


Broken Cage

by AshaCrone



Series: Fathers and cubs [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Body Dysphoria, Body Horror, Bottom Shiro (Voltron), M/M, Mpreg, Omega Shiro, Rare Pairings, Recovered Memories, Repressed Memories, Suicidal Thoughts, mention of blood sports
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-03
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-08-19 08:13:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 35,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8197430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshaCrone/pseuds/AshaCrone
Summary: Many things were lost to Shiro in the year he was a Galra captive. He escaped with a metal arm, a memory full of holes, and his body changed into an Omega that had recently given birth. All he can recall is someone there with him, holding each other's sanity together with their bare hands. He wants to remember... but he's afraid of what he might find. Thace had never expected to meet the Champion. He had never expected to find something to care about after being cast out of the military. Together, they struggle to deal with being pawns in a bigger game.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a kink meme fill in response to this request:
> 
> http://voltron-kink.dreamwidth.org/1161.html?thread=313225#cmt313225
> 
> Thace helped the Paladins escape from Zarkon. Why? Because he fell in actual love with Shiro while he was held prisoner and was actually the one who helped him escape. And Shiro? Even in the midst of all that suffering, he managed to fall in love as well. Problem is, Thace was lost in one of the many holes in Shiro's memory. But when Thace comes to the Paladins with information to help them defeat Zarkon, it all comes rushing back.
> 
> I'd love some h/c as Shiro's memories of Thace, the moments of pleasure and comfort they shared, and the pain that Thace tried to ease for him suddenly come back. And the Paladins being protective and confused about why exactly Shiro wants to be in the arms of a Galra. And then Thace and Shiro making love in a soft bed without the threat of someone catching them for the first time.
> 
> Anal sex.  
> Thace on top.  
> Bonus points for knotting.  
> Extra bonus points if they never knotted before because it wasn't safe and they didn't have the extra 30-60 minutes to spare.

“So, this is our new room, huh?” Shiro said, looking at his new room in the Castle of Lions.

No one answered him. 

That was on account of no one else being in the room.

No one had followed him in. Why was he so sure someone should have followed him in?

Shiro took a deep breath. There had been almost no time for him to let his thoughts settle, to genuinely take stock, since waking up in Keith’s shack out in the desert. He had been able to change out of his slave rags, but there had been no water. No chance to wash. He had taken a piss, but studiously ignored that his dick was shorter by few centimeters.

But now they had defeated the ship in orbit around Arus. They had found all of the Lions. They had formed Voltron. Now there was time to exhale.

Everyone was coming down off an adrenaline high as they walked the Lions to their respective hangers and out to… wherever the living quarters were on the ship. They weren’t so different from the Garrison barracks, and after a year of being… wherever he was, Shiro was grateful for the bright lights and fresh air. 

There was a bunk, something that approximated a desk and a dresser, all built into the walls. A slender mirror was mounted in between them. 

He caught sight of himself and jumped. 

Most of the past year was a screaming, writhing blur of pain that rattled under the floorboards of his mind. It heaved up under his feet, throwing him off balance as he approached the mirror, staring at the white shock of hair and the broad scar running over his nose. His skin itched as his hands shook, and he took off his gauntlets.

The artificial arm was there. He barely noticed it; he got feedback from it but… but he must have learned to use it at some point, right? He couldn’t really remember how he got it.

This body didn’t feel right. His balance had shifted lower. His hips were wider. Then it occurred to him that the arm he had lost was his _right_ arm. The arm that had held his hormone implant.

Panic tried to set in as he started yanking pieces of his armor off, peeling away the body suit to reveal skin that was too pale from being on board a ship for a year. The scars… after seeing his face? He expected those. There were burns and slices and rips covering his hide. But there was no body hair. He had never had a carpet on his chest, but it _had_ been there-

His arms and shoulders were corded in muscles, nothing bulging but his chest was- he scrambled to stop the thought before the word got out- 

_Swollen._

His tits were swollen to at least twice their old size. Huge. His mechanical hand reached up give himself a small squeeze-  
__  
\- A massive hand, big, purple, carefully teasing the nub and he heard himself, his voice, mewling, panting, squirming as the deep voice over him purred –  
-  
Milk dribbled from his tits. __

_\- He was leaning against someone massive, exhaustion soaking his limbs as those mitts-for-hands stroked his hair. He couldn’t see, could only feel the small grunt, the slight weight radiating heat against his breast-_  
-  
Shiro’s hands scrambled at the rest of his armor, leaving it in a pile as he shook his feet free of his boots. He fell to his knees, staring at nothing as he reached between his legs with his flesh hand.

He hadn’t noticed. He hadn’t noticed this _at al_ l. He hadn’t noticed that his balls were gone. In their place were a pair of lips. His fingers went deeper, touching the edge.

He pulled back like had been burned. Then he got to his feet to stumble to the toilet to throw up.

~*~*~*~*~

Alphas were not allowed to go on deep space missions.

Just a fact of the matter. Alphas were built to be warriors, and a territorial instinct that would have resulted in, at best, a lot of arguing and bad judgement. At worst, it could have ended with the entire crew dead. There had been historical instances of submarine crews being slaughtered as a result of too many alphas in a confined space. While one might have been okay with just one alpha, the lack of space was still detrimental to their emotional stability. 

So the Kerberos mission had select a pair of betas, the Holts, as their main scientific team. 

They had selected Takashi Shirogane as pilot because he was the most qualified for the job. On top of that, he looked Alpha like enough to play the role of dashing hero. This mission was as much PR for the Galaxy Garrison as it was a scientific endeavor. It was important that everyone played their part.

Almost no one, outside of the medical staff at the Garrison and his own family, knew that Shiro was an unshifted Omega. For all intents and purposes, he was beta like the Holts. 

His family had outfitted him with a hormone implant in his right arm well before puberty. He had never been in any danger of shifting… and that window of opportunity should have passed. Must have passed. It could only happen during puberty.

Right?

Shiro laid in his too-soft bed, trying to sleep as he forced down thoughts of _what happened, where happened, are Matt and Sam all right?_

There was another thought. A worse thought. He skirted around it, because as long as he kept from saying the word he wouldn’t have to think about it. Because if he did he might start screaming and not stop.  


_Those hands, talons, carded through his hair, whispering about a wish. A dream. Let’s go to…_ The memory skipped, the name was meaningless to him … _The history of the place is ancient. A temple. It may have been the birthplace of the great lions that Zarkon hunts. It’s just a legend now, but I walked there and…_

The voice was soft, deep, coming from a chest that smelled like clean cat fur and incense. The voice continued, just out of understanding, but it droned on, telling child’s tales, tales of Voltron.

His own voice answered. _The Niyodo river. The color is like nothing you’ve ever seen…_ The hand in his hair kept stroking while the free one glided over his heavy belly.

Shiro sat up, clapping his hand over his mouth as his chest _ached,_ tears pricking his eyes. He left his quarters, stumbling as he tried to keep the sobs stifled. He couldn’t get lost in this. He couldn’t imagine what they had done to him. He couldn’t break.

_You won’t break,_ that deep voice whispered in his ear. _The child will be ours. And we’ll-_

“Protect him,” he finished, knees giving out and dumping him in a heap in the darkened corridor. He struggled for a moment to regain his feet before curling into a ball, choking down the sounds of his grief.

~*~*~*~*~

“Shiro?”

He barely stirred at the sound of his name, his face raw from tears and mucus, chest aching with milk.

“Shiro, what happened?” 

His eyes focused, and the big orange and blue blur resolved itself into Coran. “Ah, it’s, it’s nothing Coran. It’s…”

“If that’s nothing I’m a ring tailed whallbit,” Coran said, crouching down. “You look like-“ Coran deflated as words failed him. “You look very bad indeed. Can you tell me what happened?”

Shiro stared at him blankly. The words were stuck in his throat as he shook his head. 

“What do you need?”

Shiro opened his mouth, inhaled, coughed and tried to find something to say. To regain some sort of balance. “I need… I need to be able to…” he trailed off before gesturing at his chest. He managed to sit up, and the whatever it was that Coran saw made him rock backwards. 

Milk had soaked through his shirt.

“Is that normal for humans?” Coran asked, touching Shiro’s shirt. “Humans sweat to cool themselves Too hot for you here? I thought the temperature was comparable to…” He paused as Shiro’s eyes took on a glassy sheen in the dim light. “Temperature wouldn’t have you this upset. Pardon me, Shiro. I’m going to take you to the infirmary.” Without another word he hefted Shiro into his arms, carrying him bridal-style down the halls despite Shiro’s weak protests.

Coran just sat him on one of the infirmary steps like he was a child, reaching for a small device and giving Shiro’s shoulder a squeeze.

“Please, try to tell me how you got into such a state,” he requested, gently waving the device up and down Shiro’s body. 

“I can’t.” Shiro let out a hysterical giggle. “I can’t remember. Every time I try… it hurts too much.” He braced one arm over himself, feeling his belly and back ripple in remembered pain. “I- I can guess what happened, but…”

Coran spared him a glance before leveling a fierce frown at the scanner. “The human anatomy information we have might be a bit out of date but this is suggesting…” The frown got deeper, before looking back up at Shiro. “I think I heard some of the other Paladins mention you had been a prisoner of the Galra?”

Shiro nodded. 

“Shiro, I want you to know you can talk to me.” The clown face and voice were gone, replaced by something deadly serious as he gazed at Shiro. “They had no right to hurt you like this.” He squeezed Shiro’s shoulder again. “But I think you need something more concrete. I think I can help dry up the leaking and,” he said, before exhaling and dashing a hand under his eyes and nose. “I know it feels like the end of the world right now. And it sort of is. I mean, Zarkon’s been in power for ten thousand years. But!” He swallowed hard. “But, we have Voltron now. We can take the fight to the Galra.” He glanced down. “If you want, we can… do you want us to try to find it?” Coran’s eyes met his, and his pity stung like acid. 

“Find what?” Shiro said, barely above a whisper.

“Your cub.”

“I don’t- I can’t- Oh god,” Shiro heard himself say, distantly. It was true, of course he knew it was true, even if he didn’t remember it he knew it was true and his heart shattered into a thousand shards. 

Coran pulled Shiro to his chest as he started screaming.

To be continued


	2. Chapter 2

Somehow he pulled himself together for the next day. He had gotten a few hours of sleep, had managed to exercise into a stupor after waking and was able to lead the team through group bonding exercises. He had long ago learned how to compartmentalize. So long as he didn’t think about what happened to him… he could be the Shiro they needed. The Shiro that planned, that kept a cool head. So long as he kept lying to himself he could pretend the mask was real.

It didn’t stop Coran from fussing like a bright orange hen, though.

His memories were like water. Dirty, oily water that left filth in its wake but then _why did he want to remember-_

 _\- A smile, someone flashing him a Victory sign, adrenaline singing in his veins-_  
\- Concern, fear, tearing his shirt off to make a tourniquet –  
\- Fierce whispers, no, that tactic won’t work –  
\- It’s okay. We can work on your sense of humor later-  
-  
“They recognized you, didn’t they? They called you ‘Champion,’” Pidge said, looking up at Shiro. “What does that even mean?”

“I don’t know. I don’t remember very much from that time.” True. Mostly true. It was a mess of noise and light. “I don’t know if I want to find out.”

He gave Pidge a glance as he turned his attention to the cryopods. Matt and Sam had talked about Katie. Sam adored his kids, and Matt had been frankly jealous of Katie’s brilliance. They’d assigned her as female, even if the DNA test after birth had shown that she an in-between, like him. Everything they had ever said about her implied that she fully identified as female gendered. But whatever choice she made, he knew that the Holts would have allowed her to make that choice on her own.

He absently scratched at his right ear. He had always been a bit jealous of that.

When the first of their guests started waking up, he helped Pidge find the blankets (Coran had shown him where) and start offering cups of steaming hot liquid that resembled green tea but tasted more like rice vinegar mixed with water. 

“So, how long were you held captive by Zarkon?” Pidge asked the tall, talkative one. The one who had named Shiro as ‘Champion.’

Ze took a long sip. “Some for years. Decades, maybe.” Ze hunched over. “It’s hard to tell. Time becomes a blur.”

“Then you must have been there when my dad and brother arrived.” Pidge’s eyes were huge, and Shiro tried not to eavesdrop as much as he wanted to. “Sam and Matt Holt?”

“I never knew their names. But I certainly remember the other two Earthlings that arrived with Champion.”

Shiro paused. That name… “Champion. Why do you keep calling me that?”

“You really don’t remember?” Ze looked at Shiro in surprise. “Unbelievable. You were a legendary gladiator. Undefeated in the ring. You don’t remember defeating Myzax?” Zir eyes narrowed. “What of your partner, the General?”

“Partner?” Shiro blinked, even as his metal hand reached out, expecting to feel another… only to be met by air. He chest ached as his eyes turned glossy. “I don’t remember…”

“You disappeared from the arena for a time,” Ze said. “The druids were rumored to do,” ze paused, eying Shiro’s arm, before ze continued. “Experiments, on successful gladiators.”

Pidge crossed his arms, clearing his throat. “When… Okay, when did you last see my family?”

The alien looked away. “The day you earned the title of Champion, I was there. So was the young Earthling you called Matt.” 

Ze went on, spinning a tale that seemed too unbelievable for Shiro to imagine. The idea of hurting his friend? That he would be so caught up in bloodlust… None of it sat right with him. He was no Alpha, and the idea of attacking his teammate made him queasy.

“You attacked my _brother_?” Pidge snarled, a deep growl coming up from his chest. “Why?”

Shiro met his eyes, blinking rapidly. “No. It can’t be true.”

“I was there,” Ze murmured. “We all were.”

Shiro kept himself from shaking, barely. Eventually they decided to go find the Galra ship for any information it might have.

Eventually, in the heat of battle, Shiro remembered enough to know exactly _why_ he would hurt his pack-brother Matt.

He went to tell Pidge. She nearly broke, eyes watering up with tears as she allowed herself to feel the grief of not knowing about her brother. She curled against him, and he tucked her up against his side. It soothed something deep in his soul that had been bleeding all day.

“I know they would have been proud of you, Katie.” She didn’t budge. “Your secret is safe with me.”

Instead, burrowed herself in closer. “Matt told me that you’re an in-between.”

Pidge hiccupped and nodded. “Yeah. I didn’t have an implant yet so I told the Garrison when I applied that I identified as a guy.” 

To Shiro’s nose she was still well away from shifting. She might never worry about it. Most in-betweens never shifted at all and kept the sex they were assigned, especially if they stayed out of stressful situations. “Do you want to? Shift, I mean.” She could shift to Alpha with the right dose of hormones.

“Not really. Just needed a disguise. The Garrison wasn’t being honest about what happened to you.” 

He nuzzled her hair.

“You did, though,” Pidge mumbled, her nose buried in Shiro’s chest. “You shifted.” She pulled back, staring at him, then cuddled closer. “You smell like my dam.”

Shiro clenched his metal fist. “I don’t think they really cared about what’s between my legs so long as I put on a good show. And if I could be entertaining in,” he paused, throat closing. “In more than one way, I doubt they would object.”

Pidge squeezed him with all her might. 

The sun that Arus circled was falling toward the horizon. The air was clean, scented with brine as it blew up from the nearby ocean. The clouds shifted through gold to pink orange as the light faded.

For a moment, he could imagine that he was with his cub, and his partner, and everything was all right.  
__  
\- We get out of here, what’s the first thing you want to do? –  
\- Watch the sunset. –  
\- That’s… sentimental. Never would have pegged you for the type. –  
\- You are, though. Seeing you happy would be enough for me. – 

~*~*~*~*~

Sometimes his memories would come up to the surface for no reason. Sometimes in the middle of Lance whining about being bored.

_“So.”_

_“Hmm.”_

_“What do Galra do for fun?”_

_“Why are you asking me this?”_

_“We’ve defeated a giant whateverasaur, we’ve gotten stitched up, and I don’t think they expect us to kill each other outside of the ring.” Shiro shifted his weight. “So outside of kidnapping helpless beings, raiding worlds, and apparently having no sense of humor… what do Galra do for fun?”_

_The large being in front of him made a deep crooning growl but didn’t show his teeth. “We are respectful of our betters and then silent.”_

_Shiro shrugged, before taking a seat on the floor across from his cell mate. He was exhausted, but too keyed up from the fight to sleep just yet. His erstwhile ‘partner’ didn’t seem inclined to do much, either._

_“On Earth, after something like this, I’d take out a bunch of friends, go find food. Probably have an intoxicant. Talk. Clap each other on the back. Maybe, um, karaoke.”_

_“Your species is frivolous. What is karaoke?”_

_“Singing. It’s a good way to, um, bond with your allies. To release stress.”_

_Shiro was painfully aware that he was babbling. But he was also in a room with a Galra. A Galra that had not tried to inflict pain on him._

_“Champion, if I respond to your inane prattle, will there be less of it?”_

_Shiro felt his body convulse. The feeling was so strange it took him a moment to realize he was laughing. “Probably.”_

_“Fine.” There was silence from the opposite side of the cell. “We make an after action report. Then we eat. We engage in coitus. We train. We spar.”_

_Shiro gaped for a few moments. “Um. Wow. Who knew Galra were such party animals.”_

_“Sometimes we play games.”_

_“Games, huh.”_

_The big presence shifted his weight. “Yes.”_

_“Okay then…”_

It was a better memory than the others. Even if it usually did mean having someone snap their fingers in his face to get him out of it.

Shiro wasn’t an idiot. He could put things together. The alien’s mention of his ‘partner’ probably was the presence that was always in his memories. But try as he might, he could never find a face to put with the hands.

He remembered other things, or rather, anatomy.

_There was deep, rough breathing from the bunk on the other side of the room after he and his partner were marched back to their cell._

_“Are you okay?”_

_A growl was his answer, ending in a whine. “I think the answer is obvious.”_

_“Help me out here,” he heard in his memories, along with a name. He could never, ever keep hold of the name. “What do you need?”_

_The growl that answered him was deep, low, and Shiro felt it through his bones._

_“It is nothing. Sleep.”_

_The scent rolling off the Galra was a rich, heady musk. It wasn’t quite the same as an Alpha’s, but close enough. It made Shiro’s mouth water and his knees go weak._

_“It’s not ‘nothing.’” Shiro had been watching his partner, this Galra who was dangerously close to ‘friend,’ for a few weeks now. And the scent in their cell had only gotten stronger as the weeks went by. “Let me help you.”_

_The snarl was like tearing paper. “It is none of your concern!”_

_“Right. You being distracted with a hard-on in our next fight is none of my concern.”_

_The answer that came next was frustrated, and almost peevish. “I’m not a whelp anymore. I should not be itching to mate after every battle.”_

_Shiro forced down a laugh. The smell in the room was filling out his own cock. Something pooled behind his balls strangely, deep and hot. The cell was dark and quiet. They had a solid door between themselves and the other prisoners. Rolling out of his cot, Shiro crouched low and scooted the meter and a half to the other side of the cell._

_He put one hand on the Galra’s knee. “Show me.”_

_The sound out of his partner’s mouth was resigned, but his breath quickened as he spread his legs._

_His cock was huge, twenty-five centimeters, with an arrowhead tip and dull spines. At the base, just starting to swell, was his knot._

_Shiro’s stomach flipped as reached out-_  
  
He woke with a start, sitting straight up and growling to himself as he got to his feet. He shambled to the bathroom, muttering to himself. “I remember his dick but I can’t think of his face. Great job, Shirogane’s brain. Way to set priorities.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Content warning for mention of abortion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning for mention of abortion in this chapter

That Pidge would put her family over their new pack didn’t surprise Shiro much. 

What surprised him was Keith going into a full Alpha dominance display: a deep growl, bared teeth, eyes wide and waving his arms to make himself look bigger as he tried to intimidate Pidge into compliance. She reared back, holding her breath, fighting the instinct to bare her throat to him…

And Shiro grabbed Keith by the scruff of the neck, yanking him away. Keith whipped around, teeth bared-

Shiro made a hard, loud hiss through his teeth, with a sharp shake of his collar. At that sound, Keith shrank back into himself, eyes dropping to the floor in embarrassment. 

“What did I just witness?” Allura asked, jaw slack. Hunk groaned, pinching between his brows. 

“ _So_ happy to be a beta. Um, yeah, Princess, that was called the ‘Mom is very disappointed in you, son,’ noise. Human packs are weird.”

“I had a good point!” Keith protested. 

“You were rage-displaying. That’s not how a team works. That’s not how a pack should work,” Shiro said. “People have to want to be part of a group. It can’t be forced.”

Shiro grimaced, before turning his attention to Pidge. Pleading with Matt had never worked. He doubted it would work with her. All he could do was give her some rein and hope that she came back in the end. 

In the meantime… Keith was staring at him like he had never seen Shiro before. Leaned in.

Took a good, hard sniff.

“You’re an Omega.”

That was when the explosion rocked the Castle and everything went to hell.

~*~*~*~*~

_“What’s Galra social structure like? Do you have families?”_

_-“Families, yes.” The large alien across from him shrank in on himself. “Not the same as yours, it seems. We throw twenty toms for every queen. Most queens litter anywhere from four to ten whelps. Since there are so few pureblooded females at a time, we must earn our right to breed with one.”_

_Shiro had tilted his head to the side. “That’s… odd.”_

_“It is not natural. It is said that this was a curse from our ancient enemy. But as a result, our young males fight for favor so that they may have a chance to perpetuate their clans. Some only get the right once in a lifetime. Even then the queens might reject you if your blood is not pure.” Shiro lifted his eyebrows at the faint, cocky smile of his partner. “I have gone to the queens three times.”_

_Shiro coughed. “Well, look at you, stud. The queens can’t keep their hands off you.”_

_There was a snort, and those yellow eyes looked away. “Three visits, two live whelps. That is better than most. I raised two beautiful sons.”_

_“Wow.” Shiro meant it, sarcasm gone. “You must be proud.”_

_The Galra’s voice was soft. “I was. That I had pure sons to carry on my family was an honor.”_

_Shiro frowned. “Do they know you’re here?”_

_“No. The Empire believes in success or death.” He stopped for several moments, and Shiro could hear his talons drag on the floor. “Neither succeeded.”_

_Shiro closed his eyes before slamming a fist into the cold metal of his cell. His partner’s words trickled through his mind. Things he had seen. Certain Galra looked like his partner. Others definitely did not. Every bit of biological science he knew said that this should have been impossible. But… but so was most of what had happened since being captured._

_He was very aware of the healed scar where his implant had once been._

_“Purebloods? You can breed with **different species**?” - _

The memory faded as Shiro woke up in time to hear Sendak finish his communications with Zarkon.

To his relief, Lance was beside him and appeared to be breathing. Moving Lance had been a damned fool’s move, but they were damned anyways if Zarkon got his hands on them. He had seen alien tech heal deadly injuries. If they could survive this and get the castle working again, Lance would be fine.

He had to be. Shiro wasn’t losing another one.

Sendak walked over, hauling Shiro to his knees and crouching down to sneer.

“So. Hm. What did that washed up old fool see in you?”

Shiro kept his lips closed. Lance moved, just a bit, eyes sliding open. Shiro breathed a bit easier.

“I guess you _were_ his only chance to breed again. But you did make a strong whelp, didn’t you? There were bets it would die before its first breath, but you proved them wrong.” Sendak leaned back on his heels, reaching out with his real hand to stroke Shiro’s chin. Something cold sat down in Shiro’s belly. 

“My whelp?”

“Hmmm…” Sendak moved to pet his hair. “Zarkon will be pleased. His heart’s desire, and the escaped slave that ruined his plans. I think I’ll ask if I can keep you. The sight of you filled with my get will be more than reward for this task.”

He could feel the ship rumbling, getting ready to take off. Shiro bared his teeth. Whatever his team needed, he had to keep Sendak distracted. 

And Shiro was not above a pot shot.

“I’m surprised. Setting your sights a little low, aren’t you? Afraid to ask for a real queen?” Shiro mocked. He took a long look at Sendak and pursed his lips. “Never managed to actually knock one up?”

Sendak’s eye narrowed as he turned to look at Shiro. “They were weak.”

“They rejected you, didn’t they?” Shiro said with a smile. “But him?” _Who is he? WHY CAN’T I REMEMBER-_ “He got to go three times.”

“I am stronger than _he_ ever was.” He struck Shiro across the face with his metal hand, splitting his lip. “You were desperate for the General’s seed and I can give you stronger yet.”

“Yeah, I wanted his cubs. Still do.” Shiro hadn’t known until he spoke it, but it was true. He looked up at Sendak, spat out blood, and snarled. “I’d pick yours out with a coat hanger.”

That was when the power went out and the engines died. Shiro let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. There was still a _chance_.

~*~*~*~*~

_That night after he had offered to give his partner a hand job, he dreamed._

_He was someplace else, not his cell. A hot spotlight blinded him; his wrists and ankles were bound to a table. The faint breeze on his skin made every hair stand on end. He wasn’t wearing his rags._

_His heart thudded against his ribs as he tried to break free._

_He couldn’t._

_Druids circled in, staring down at him without eyes._

_They started to touch him. Icy fingers caressed his skin, hovering, silent, until there was a sharp pinch in his right arm. He jerked up to look to find the small stick with his hormone regulator, covered in ragged skin and blood, in the hand of one of the druids._

_He saw movement out of the corner of his eye, then screamed in pain as they plunged their hands down into the skin of his belly-_

_When he woke up, he was back in his old cell. His clothes were still on. His partner was purring in his sleep. Back to a more familiar hell._

_But his right arm ached, and when he felt for the familiar lump of his regulator, it was gone._

~*~*~*~*~

Shiro had meant it when he told Pidge that owning who she was would make her a stronger Paladin.

That didn’t mean he was quite as prepared for when Lance came by later.

They had waited for him to come out of the cryopod with bated breath, hovering like a pack of children watching cookies in the oven. Afterwards they had talked about what to do next. 

After that, Lance had gotten tied to a tree and his lion stolen. Keith had been… Very, very alpha.

It shouldn’t have surprised him, that Keith was presenting as an Alpha. He had always been aggressive, pushed himself hard, and had an impressive well of strength that never went dry. Keith had been an excellent student, and had taken to flying like he was born with wings. He was almost comically serious. 

They had chosen to take a roundabout way to the Balmera when Lance came to find Shiro, who was in the training room. It was set up to resemble a human gym, with free weights, a treadmill and punching bags… sort of. Shiro had found out that the gladiator fights kept him from sleeping just as much as the nightmares did.

Lance had come in, in his street clothes and shoulders hunched over, shuffling. “You got a minute to talk?” His posture was all careful submission. Shiro frowned at that. It was so unlike Lance that it threw him off.

“What’s wrong?”

Lance seemed to shrink into his clothes, before taking a deep breath. “Yeah. Okay. Um. Shiro. You remember the fight with Sendak?”

Shiro tilted his head to the side. “Yes?

“And he said he wanted to keep you as a sex slave?”

Shiro froze, nodded. “Yes. I do remember.”

“And you kinda implied that… um…” Lances face turned a vibrant red at that and did a vague hand-wavy thing, which could have meant anything from ‘come here’ to ‘I’m hot.’ But given the context…

It had been nearly two weeks since he had escaped and found the Castle of Lions and formed Voltron, and he had acknowledged the inescapable reality that he had shifted to an Omega and borne a cub. “Yes.”

“Are you okay? I mean- it- you really were willing?” Lance asked in a small voice. “I mean- how does that even happen?”

Shiro reached out to snag a towel- and accidentally ripped it in two. “My memories are still a blur. I can’t see his face. I don’t know his name. But I do remember that they took out my implant.”

Lance tapped his chin. “Doesn’t make any sense. You know? We don’t shift after puberty. Even without the implant.”

Shiro’s eyebrows went up at ‘we.’ “I can’t explain it. I do remember… not being alone. That I had someone watching my back. It made the bad parts bearable. And, yeah. It wasn’t just the heat talking. I wanted him. I wanted them.” Shiro felt his voice crack as he tried to laugh. His hands went over his still-soft belly, covered in stretch marks. “I have a mate and a cub that I left behind and I can’t even remember their faces. So. No, I am not okay.”

Lance leaned in, pressing against Shiro. 

He smelled like youth, like Lance… and like Omega. Shiro blinked at him. Most Omegas who shifted presented as female.

“Hey, man. We got Voltron now. We’ll find ‘em. Pidge has all that information from the downed Galra ship and we got Sendak, too. He seemed to know something.” Lance rocked back and forth, before giving Shiro a quick hug and backing away. “It’s like Pidge and her family. Your guy? He’s okay. So is the cub. We’ll figure it out.”

Shiro forced himself to smile. “Yeah. We will.”

To be continued


	4. Chapter 4

_That first hand job had ended with cum erupting from his partner’s cock and over his face and hands. The utter bastard had the nerve to learn down and lick it off: first Shiro’s face and lips, then his fingers. Shiro nearly came in his pants from that alone._

_Realizing that he had rapidly become friends with one of the enemy was disconcerting. Ignoring that he was an alien, Shiro’s cell mate was intelligent, passionate about history and had a wit dry enough to be used as sandpaper. That alone would have made him want start cultivating a friendship._

_Realizing that his partner – a member of an alien race of conquerors and murders – could give him an erection just by stretching was_ terrifying. _Shiro had usually had a low sex drive; it was a well-documented side effect of the hormone implant. Not that he had minded when the stars had been calling at the Garrison._

_Now he had to fight to keep his composure at every brush of fur, every time he caught his partner’s scent. His partner was power and grace, with a voice that sent shivers down Shiro’s spine. It was almost embarrassing how he enjoyed feeling small besides him. On top of that, their partnership had turned to trust._

_That probably scared Shiro most of all._

_He was hard, so fucking hard as his partner pulled Shiro close to give as good as he got, eating Shiro out, giving his ass a tongue bath that had him biting his hand to keep from shouting._

_The sex continued. Hand jobs, blow jobs, frottage, and his partner seemed particularly fond of bending Shiro in half so he could eat him out. It left Shiro vulnerable but he loved the feeling of it. That lovely habit was why his partner noticed first._

_“Your gonads are gone.”_

_Everything down there had been sensitive, hot, for the past few days. Being licked there had been as good as getting fucked._

_Shiro had to uncross his eyes to get the words to penetrate. “What?”_

_A velvet tongue gently traced a line from the underside of Shiro’s cock to over his balls. “Humans aren’t so different from us. You keep the male reproductive cells on the outside. I played with them before, remember?” Oh god yes he did._

_Shiro’s breath caught, fingers clenching on his lover’s thighs. He had felt off, lately. But- “What else? Did anything else change?”_

_He was silent for a moment. “There is a line that is darker than it was yesterday.” Another soft lick. Shiro hissed. It felt taut, like the thin cover of a scar over an unhealed wound; touching it hurt good, scratching an itch._

_His knees were hooked over his lover’s shoulders, and he saw his own concern reflected in the other’s eyes._

_“No. Oh no.”_

_“Shiro?” He asked, before drawing one talon over the thin line, and Shiro saw his yellow-on-yellow pupils get wider as Shiro covered his mouth with his hand when pleasure/pain made his eyes water. A second later, his partner applied his tongue again-_

_And Shiro shrieked, coming, as the skin split open over his new vagina, fluids gushing out in a flood on his partner’s face. For a moment it was silent, before fire rose up in his belly as Shiro blacked out._

__

~*~*~*~*~

“Your species has six sexes?” His lover was incredulous, but continued mopping the mess of puss and fluids with the remains of his shirt. Shiro was draped over his lap, ear pressed against his chest but otherwise boneless. Whatever organ pumped the Galra’s blood was on the left, same as humans.

“Hm. Sort of. Two are extremes of basic dimorphism so they aren’t quite separate. The other two types are intersex. We’re meant to help maintain an even sex ratio so there won’t be inbreeding.”

“That seems needlessly complicated.”

Shiro laughed a bit, delirious as the fever make his bones ache. “You’re telling me.” Those big hands started massaging his neck, easing the knots there before dragging down his belly, stroking just above his cock. “I… I don’t know why this is happening now.”

A lie. He had a good idea. The druids had taken his regulator and there were almost no females here. 

Except himself.

The druids wanted him to shift.

~*~*~*~*~

Shiro stood in front of Sendak’s cage, not taking his eyes away from the machine that was downloading his consciousness.

“I know you’re in there, Sendak,” Shiro growled at the cryopod as he leaned against the surface. “I know you have all the answers. Give them to me.” Frustration, anger, and loss fueled his slap against the surface. “You’re a broken soldier. You can’t hold out forever.” A second later he saw a stream of violet, branching like veins, through the empty tube mean to copy his consciousness.

“So you can hear me.”

No acknowledgement. But Shiro started to ask questions. He- they- desperately needed answers. 

“What was the first rank you held in Zarkon’s army? Where did you find the Red Lion?” He crossed his arms, clenching his fists. “Where is my son?”

**“Why do you care about the fate of one whelp?”**

“Because he’s my child. I’m his dam. He was _wanted_.”

**“But he wasn’t your choice. You must know that. You proved yourself against a powerful gladiator. Isn’t it amazing that you were later paired with someone so… sympathetic?”**

Shiro paused, and tried to rally. “What is Zarkon’s greatest weakness?”

**“What makes you think he has any? Why do you keep fighting? He’s already won.”**

“That’s not true. I decide-“

Mocking laughter echoed throughout the room. “You caught on the first breeding. But tell me, where are they now?”  
__

_\- Brittle fingers clutched at shoulders as he tried to hold on with one arm. –_  
\- Please, Thace, help me. They’re going to take our son! –  
\- Jagged shards of betrayal tore his throat as his partner gently lifted the cub from his grip. –  
\- No, Shiro. They’re not here for him. They’re here for you. -  
\- I’m sorry -

**“You were broken and remade. You became Zarkon’s creature. What better way to test your loyalty than –“**  
__  
\- Lunging forward, the face was gone, but the voice, the voice –  
\- The baby was crying- 

Shiro’s fist swung, striking the cryopod and decorating it in a web of cracks. A split second later, Sendak’s eye opened. Shiro slapped his hand on the eject button, but he heard Sendak’s last words.

**“Face it. The hand that destroys all you love will be your own.”**

Shiro fell to his knees. All he could hear was the sound of his cub crying.


	5. Chapter 5

When Thace had been sent down to the gladiator pits as punishment, he had expected a brutal death. 

It was just, he supposed. His sons had made him promise, begged him to keep his silence. They had chosen to go to their deaths for their cause when his words might have spared them. This was an end he deserved.

The gladiator arena was considered the greatest insult among the ranks of Zarkon’s elite soldiers. They were a combination of punishment for disloyalty, but given just enough sliver of hope to become one of the druids’ pets so to be once again useful to the Empire. Sendak, one of the most decorated commanders in Zarkon’s fleet, had been such once. It was said that the gladiator arena was a giant crucible that purged out impurities, all weakness, that left only the greatest warriors standing to be used as shock troops for the ‘glory’ of the Empire.

The last thing Thace expected, when the Champion was tossed into the arena with him, was _mercy._

It had been barely a month since this new alien had been found and forced to do battle for the entertainment of the masses. He had been kidnapped, along with a few others of his kind, in a backwater system so far away that it would be another century before the machine of the Galra Empire would naturally grind it to dust. None would have guessed at his savagery, willing to injure his own kind in order to sate his bloodlust early.

Since then many long time favorites had fallen before him. Thace had seen one of his matches. It was hard not to underestimate this small, oddly cute alien, who came barely to his shoulder. He lacked the technique, strength and brutality of the other gladiators, but instead focused on patience and cunning. He tested, he planned, he used his environment to his advantage. He refused to panic like other arena fodder. He also possessed a stamina that was shocking compared to other species. Thace had, despite himself, been impressed.

When the fight itself began, he left himself open, allowing Champion to close quickly and barely putting in effort in blocking, not truly wanting to draw things out. He blocked, over-extended himself, made big, sweeping overhand attacks that a half-trained child could parry in their sleep. 

He had no reason to put on a show. He was there to die. His clan would die, remembered only as a house of traitors and weaklings. That his defeat would come at the hands of such a small, puny creature would be appropriate. He had lead Galra in raids against such. He had ground them under his heel. That his last act of defiance would be to die before such was… appropriate.

“I don’t _understand,_ ” Champion snapped, barely two minutes into their battle. “Why aren’t you fighting back?”

“One of us has to die here,” Thace answered. He was barely winded, but water was pouring off the Champion’s face. With a sharp twist he sent Champion’s blade flying, leaving him to dive out of the way to retrieve it. “Would you rather it was you?”

“No.” Champion rolled, regaining his feet and back into position. “I’d rather _neither_ of us died. I’d rather not be here at all!” He lunged.

Thace frowned, tilting his body out of the way. “Now _you_ aren’t trying.” Despite himself, he didn’t want to _win_ this fight because Champion gave up. “Keep fighting.” This time he went on the attack, increasing the strength, but not the speed, of his blows.

Hearing the small gasp from Champion as he felt the jolt along his arms was unexpectedly rewarding. Watching his eyes narrow, seeing him start a flurry of blows towards Thace’s legs, which Thace blocked without thought. He was good when it came to dodging, rolling out of the way when Thace swung his larger blade.

“You adapt quickly,” Thace said, after he had let himself get complacent for a moment, allowing Champion to use his own twist-and-jerk move to disarm him. His face felt strange.

He was smiling. This was… _fun_.

He didn’t want this to end just yet, so he leapt backwards and to the side, catching Champions blade one-handed between his fingers. The crowd clapped in delight. 

To his credit, Champion didn’t freeze when Thace surged upwards, kicking the blade out of his hands, instead moving in for a body slam that knocked them both away from their blades. 

“Why do you want to die?” he asked, pinning Thace’s wrists to the ground and straddling his waist. Thace didn’t answer, his smile just getting wider as he easily flipped them over, reversing their positions.

The Champion’s face turned red when he noticed Thace between his legs. “Do all of your kind change color like that?”

His odd eyes went wide as kicked upwards-

And Thace snarled in pain as Champion’s kick connected with his groin. The crowd howled in laughter as he fought to keep from curling up on himself. Then he cursed as Champion tossed a handful of dust into his eyes.

It left him scrambling for his sword, rolling out of the way as he listened for Champion- then froze in place when he felt the other’s blade kiss his throat.

He laughed as he bowed his head. “Thank you.”

“What the hell for? What’s wrong with you?”

“Just end it, Champion. Only one of us will be allowed to walk out of here.”

Thace had seen many things in his life. Fought battles through novae, witnessed the birth of his whelps and seen the Temple of the Lion Riders, the supposed birthplace of Voltron.

He had never seen anything as strange as the human dropping his sword.

“You fool! Finish it!” Thace said, getting to his knees and wiping his tearing eyes. “They’ll force you to kill me anyways!”

“Then they have to force me,” Champion answered, backing away. The crowded began heckling them, throwing trash into the arena. “I’ll defend my own life, but I’m not some executioner!”

“Better you than them.”

Champion stared for several moments, and Thace could see the muscles in his jaw working. Perhaps this man was still an innocent, and hadn’t yet been forced fed slave fodder in the ring to help satiate the crowd’s blood lust. Maybe, if he had only fought favorites, he had not been forced to kill outside of battle before.

“What’s your name?” Champion asked. Thace wondered if he should try to grab his own sword and fall on it. It might make things easier. He had never thought dying would be so difficult.

“Meaningless to you.” He rubbed his eyes and got to his feet. “My life should not matter.” He made no move to get his own sword. 

“Yeah, hate to break it to you buddy, but it does.” Champion walked over, and the crowd was screaming ‘Coward! Coward!’ at the top of their lungs. At any moment, Thace expected the drones to arrive, either to drag them away or start firing. Thace… realized he didn’t want the Champion to die.

“My name is Shirogane Takashi,” Champion said, holding out his hand. “Pleased to meet you.”

Thace stared at his hand for several ticks, wondering what he should do. Should he push the Champion? Defeat him because, well, at this point it might be a mercy?

He was interrupted half a tick later as the big doors at the other side of the arena lifted and the arena shook as something enormous took a step inside.

“ _Kaiju_ ,” Ch- Shirogane Takashi said, eyes going wide. 

“My name is Thace,” he said, turning to Shirogane and grabbing his hand and pulling him back towards their weapons. Suddenly dying seemed a lot less appealing.

~*~*~*~*~

Somehow, Thace had not been summarily executed for not fighting to kill the Champion.

Probably because the crowd had _loved_ seeing them fight against one of the druids’ chimeric beasts. 

His last clear memory had been going on the defensive, keeping the monster distracted while Shirogane had snuck up on it, striking hard, severing the thorax and abdomen while Thace had engaged its multiple tentacles. He had been thrown into the wall for his trouble.

He had not expected to wake up again. He had _certainly_ never expected to wake up with small hands probing his head and chest and mumbling so fast that he could barely understand with the help of the translator microbes.

“What did those things do to him? Not a concussion, definitely no soft spots but how would you even know, Shiro? He’s got some cuts but his hand – damn that was a cool trick – that’s fine. Of course. What the hell am I doing with this guy? Just… god I hope I’m not making him worse-“

“Perhaps if you were to be silent I could sleep and continue to heal,” Thace answered, not opening his eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

Now Thace did open his eyes. It wasn’t the same cell he had been in this morning. It was narrow, with two cots on either side of the room, an actual waste disposal unit and what appeared to be a tap for water. 

“It seems we’ve made our overlords happy,” Shirogane said. He didn’t sound like he felt the same. “Or something. They brought me here after we were dragged out. They patched you up. Looks like they didn’t want either of us to die.”

Thace frowned. His head no longer hurt, so he reasoned that he had been given some treatment. They must not have wanted him to take the easy way out. He exhaled. “I suppose not.” He levered his legs over the too-short cot and eased himself up, hissing at the soreness in his back and ribs.

“Hey, hey, easy.” Shirogane got under his arm and helped him lean into the wall. He leapt away when Thace coughed, and the next thing Thace knew Shirogane was putting a bowl of water to his lips. “You took a hell of a hit.”

The water tasted like he would expect: dull and metallic. At least it was clean. Shirogane helped him sip a few times more.

“By the way. Thank _you_. You saved my life.” Thace blinked and looked over at the human, who was not meeting his eyes.

Thace opened his mouth then closed it again. "You're... welcome."

To be continued.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning for some blood and gore.

The first time that they had to fight slave fodder nearly broke Shirogane.

It was perhaps a few days after they had found themselves in the same cell. Another day and another match came; they were herded out to the arena with their opponents. 

The usual dregs of society were there: low-class Galra, blood so diluted they were only Galra in name, or subjugated species who had forgotten that once it was their own kind in the pits. Animals who had come to mock, to jeer, to revel in the blood of those less fortunate than themselves. To enjoy that, for today, it wasn’t them going to die.

Their opponents stood a good ten meters away, smelling of piss and fear. One was obviously older than the other, shoving it back behind itself. It held its sword out in front of it, flipper-hands trembling as they slowly tried to back away.

“Should we talk to them?” Shirogane asked, tersely, from Thace’s side. He looked down at the top of Shirogane’s head.

“What could they possibly have to say?”

“I don’t know- My name is… fish-something? I’m from Planet Nine?” Shirogane hissed. His back was rigid, and the grip on his sword was too tight. His face, which had been pale, had flushed. Thace exhaled loudly.

“We should kill them quickly.”

“No! They’re prisoners, just like us!” Shirogane looked almost like he wanted to scream. “We can’t just murder them! They’re people!”

“Would you rather they killed you?” Thace snapped. There was no other way. 

It seemed that their talking had upset the younger alien, making it cry. The elder hissed and started to advance.

“It’s protecting its child, Thace,” Shirogane said, almost pleading. “It’s not done anything wrong. How can I-“

Thace stepped away as the alien charged, squawking, swinging its blade in a wide arc. Shirogane barely dodged out of the way, hands up and pleading. “We mean you no harm. We don’t have to fight-“

Thace watched for a moment. There were drone soldiers stationed as guards above the arena floor, watching all of their movements. This ridiculous farce was being transmitted to holo-projectors throughout the galaxy. Laughter echoed throughout as Shirogane tried to keep dodging. 

“Kill it, Shirogane.”

The crowd started to grow impatient.

“Parents protecting children are the most dangerous.”

The drones shifted their grip on their weapons. 

Without a word, Thace lunged forward, taking off the alien’s head in a clean sweep of his blade. Shirogane’s eyes bulged from his face as the headless body jerked and thrashed in front of him for a moment, fluids spurting from its neck, and filth from its orifices. 

“Thace! Why did you-“

“They were getting ready to shoot you, you fool,” Thace hissed, tilting his head towards the guards. “Or it. The crowd was getting bored.”

Shirogane’s face went pale again as they both heard the soft squalling coming from the smaller alien. Almost in a daze, Shirogane walked towards it, going to one knee.

“I’m sorry.” He had lowered his guard again, and Thace _knew_ this wouldn’t go well. “I’m so- so-

Shirogane barely pulled his head back in time, a bloody gouge appearing across the bridge of his nose. Thace said nothing as Shirogane scrambled backwards, and dispatched the second alien as he had the first. 

They were escorted off the arena floor to more jeering laughter. Shirogane was silent, the white part of his eyes visible, gripping his upper arms as small tremors went through his form. Blood had washed his lower face in red. It looked as if the guards had deemed the injury too minor to be given aid.

The walk back to their cell was even longer in the silence. 

It was almost a relief when Shirogane made a sound between a scream and a sob as he threw his fist at Thace’s face.

The blow was a strong one; if he had put everything into it Thace might have lost a tooth. As it was, it snapped his head to the side and split his lip.

“You monster! How could you- why did you-“

He caught Shirogane’s other hand as it came up. The human was strong, even half-mad in grief and fury, and Thace struggled to keep him from landing another punch. 

“They would have killed us both if they could. I told you before. There was no way out of it.”

Shirogane’s chest was heaving, breathing in shallow gasps as tears ran down his face, mixing with the blood. “How could you? _How could you?_ They were helpless!”

“I was a Galra soldier.”

Shirogane stopped, looking up at him. His face turned red again as he bared his teeth in a howl, waving his fists impotently before punching the wall of their cell. His fingers clawed at the walls as he sobbed. 

“Why do you have to be a monster?” Shiro spat.

Thace paused, before leaning down to grab their water bowl. He filled it, and put it down next to Shirogane. “Your life is as valuable as theirs. More. You have a right to defend it.”

Shirogane shuddered. “Don’t condescend to me,” he said, addressing the wall. “Why do your people do this?”

“From the beginning of recorded history we have been such. But history begins with the coronation of our Emperor, Zarkon. Maybe we haven’t always been. A few, renegade scholars have believed such. But we don’t know how to be different now,” Thace murmured, arms loose at his sides. Shirogane saw the bowl, picked it up and poured the water over his head. He started to wipe the blood off his face.

“And what about you? Do _you_ know how to be different? Does _your_ life matter?”

Thace was silent for several moments, sitting down on his cot and crossing his arms. He didn’t know what Shirogane wanted to hear. “Everything I was is gone. My Clan, my deeds, even my name are forgotten. There are none left who care if I live or die.”

“So that’s why you’d just- just step in and fight my battles for me? You don’t care or think I’m too weak to fight?” Shirogane accused, glaring at him.

“You’re not weak,” Thace said, rubbing the side of his face. He struggled to find new words to explain his actions, his feelings. “It is nothing for me, to have more blood on my hands. I cannot be _more_ damned than I am already. But you are _gentle_. You are _innocent_.” It was like trying to explain colors to the blind. “Let me do this.”

Shirogane ran his hand under his nose, making a strange sniffing sound. The blood had stopped seeping from the wound on his face. It would leave an impressive scar, but was not a fatal injury. He carefully picked up the bowl, rinsed it, and filled it again. He offered the bowl of water to Thace.

“You’re wrong, you know,” he said, when Thace took the water to sip. “I told you before. I know who you are. _I_ would care if you died. And I’ll remember you, as long as I’m alive.”

He sat down next to Thace, who passed the water bowl back. Shirogane took a long gulp of his own.

“I know,” Thace said. 

Shirogane took Thace’s left hand in his two small ones.

“I know.”

To be continued.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have some h/c.

A week later, and they had another battle in the arena. Shirogane acquitted himself admirably, proving that the title of Champion was well earned when his life was being threatened by someone bigger and stronger. Given that their opponent was a pair of talented favorites, they were quickly withdrawn once they were defeated; beloved favorites were actually rare. They would probably face them again.

Thace’s ears rang at the roar of the arena. He couldn’t see out of his right eye, but he didn’t think it was actually damaged. Blood made his prison garb tacky, flowing from several cuts in his hide. A miscalculation had resulted in a fall, and his left ankle throbbed. It was pride alone that kept him upright as they were prodded back towards their cell. He would not show weakness in the arena. He would never allow them the privilege.

That didn’t stop his knees from buckling five meters from the cell doors.

“Woah! Woah, Big Guy,” Shirogane said, ducking under Thace’s left arm. His shoulders came just to Thace’s armpit, but it kept him from dropping to the floor. “Take it easy there. You took some hard knocks.” As if Thace was unaware.

There was no reaction from the guard drones. Thace fought to keep down the pained grunts to harsh breathing. Shirogane either didn’t notice, or ignored them. That was, until he stumbled. Shirogane swore, muttering to himself as they staggered on in.

The doors shut, and Thace let himself be lowered to the floor with a soft groan. “You’re sturdier than I thought.”

“And you’re a condescending bastard,” Shirogane said, rubbing the back of his own neck, but he sounded fond. “Are you going to be okay?”

“If my injuries had been truly debilitating and they wanted me to continue fighting, I would be in the infirmary. Do not concern yourself.”

“Not what I asked, Thace.” Shirogane crossed his arms, walking around to kneel in front of him. Thace bowed his head, letting his chin drop almost to his chest and closing his eye in exhaustion. He was not as young as he once was.

“It is nothing.”

“ _Not what I asked!_ ” Shirogane muttered, and Thace opened his good eye as Shirogane put his fingers under Thace’s chin to tilt it up.

Surprise and reflex had Thace pull back, swatting at his hand. 

Shirogane’s eyes widened, jaw going slack. “What- are you okay? Did that hurt?”

Thace realized he had tried to push away. He gritted his teeth, refusing to feel embarrassed in front of the alien. “Not there. It is fine.” He tried to unclench his jaw but it wasn’t working. Shirogane nodded, putting his hand on Thace’s face again-

Thace flinched, ears pinning back to his head.

“Okay then. You don’t like me touching you.” Thace tried to lift an eyebrow but it hurt too much, so he twitched his ears. Shirogane looked like a whelp denied a sweetie. “I’ll stop.” He moved to get up.

Thace shook his head. “It is not that.” He was not going to be embarrassed by this. “It is like…” He licked his lips. “It is not an erogenous zone, but-“

Shirogane’s hands flew back, before one went to cover his mouth as his eyes bugged comically wide. The sound he made was cute. Almost a squeak. “Oh. Sorry.”

Thace shifted his weight. “Do not apologize.” _I am_ not _embarrassed_. He gestured over his jawline, chin and forehead. “Galra used to have scent marking glands here. They’re vestigial now, but having them touched is,” he paused to search for the right word. “Sensitive. We touch faces to close friends in greeting, or with our whelps to soothe them, or with intimate partners.” Thace shrugged one shoulder. “The type of gesture depends on context.” His ears twitched again. “I haven’t been touched there in some time.”

“Oh. Um. Got it.” Shirogane twiddled his fingers. “I still want to clean your injuries. May I touch your face for that?”

Thace sighed and nodded, as Shirogane got to his feet. Honestly, he was so tired that he might not have been able to resist or react for much longer anyways.

“You were hurt other places, right? May I look at those, too?”

Thace nodded again, hissing as he reached down to take off his tunic and jumpsuit. There were so many rips in it from this last fight that might not last until the recyclers came for it a few days.

Behind him he heard fabric tear, and Shirogane was back, eyes flickering up and down his form.

“What is it?” They had been nude with each other before. There was no privacy in this cell. Shirogane had usually looked away at those times, though.

“Uh, oh, nothing.” Maybe all humans changed color as often as this one did. Thace had never met more to find out. “Any other places I should be careful about?”

“I did not sustain injury to my genitalia in this battle, Shirogane.” Thace cracked a smile. “The only opponent to strike me there has been you.”

And now he was such a bright red Thace was concerned for his health. “Bastard. Fine. Close your eyes.”

Thace did so. His own assessment of his injuries was somewhere along the lines of ‘painful but not permanently debilitating’. He had taken off the arm of one of his opponents before the battle had been called in their favor. So he could not truly complain. 

He did his best to keep his breathing even when Sh-

“By the way, you don’t have to call me Shirogane. Only my drill instructor called me that. Shiro is fine.”

-When Shiro touched his face. This time he kept it firm but gentle, dabbing the torn piece of his tunic over the cut on Thace’s forehead. The cool was soothing. Despite himself, he did start to relax. He let his breathing become deeper, turning into a purr as he dozed.

The touches didn’t stop, kneading at the base of his neck, missing the worst of his cuts as they glided up and down his fur. He was half aware of leaning in, and a soft noise that could have been laughter. He purred harder, despite himself, as Shiro’s hands moved into his hair to card through it. He eventually dropped completely to sleep. 

His demons jumped out to greet him: Zarkon’s face as he was made to watch his sons’ execution. He opened his mouth to shout, that this time he knew what Zarkon wanted-

He awoke a breath later, growling and grabbing Shiro’s hand a few centimeters away from touching his belly.

His eyes opened to see the biggest, shit-eating grin on the human’s face. Thace let go of his wrist a tick later.

“And of course, it was a trap.”

Thace’s ears twitched forward and back, trying to shake off the dream. “What?”

That smile seemed to get bigger. “You were _purring_.” The human looked delighted at this revelation.

“It’s helps promote healing,” Thace snapped. This time he _knew_ he was embarrassed. His heart was still striking his ribs from that damned dream. “Self-soothing.”

Shiro’s expression calmed. “Whatever you say. I was thinking. Um. You said you did a gesture, with friends? Can you show me?” He pointed at his face. “In the interest of cross cultural understanding.”

Thace tilted his head to the side, then shrugged in acquiesce. At that moment he might have agreed to anything as a distraction. Shiro was already kneeling in front of him, but he scooted in closer.

“With friends,” he said, and leaned down, making one long stroke with his maned cheek against Shiro’s. 

“With whelps and children,” he went on, resting his forehead against Shiro’s, and put both of his palms on Shiro’s cheeks, stroking over his jaw with his thumbs, his eyebrows and under his chin. Shiro let his eyes close.

Thace realized he was purring again as Shiro murmured, “And the… third type?”

Thace stared at him, exhaled, and leaned down, rubbing his cheek and chin over Shiro’s, back again, before gently nipping his chin. He held it there, between his teeth, breathing in Shiro’s scent before letting go again, brushing against his nose, and finally dropped their foreheads together. His chest was rumbling like thunder.

Shiro’s face was red again, high on his cheeks. There faint marks from Thace’s canines, but they would fade in moments. “That was nice.” He licked his lips. “Humans, um, we do something similar. Can I show you?”

Thace nodded. 

Shiro got to his knees, and pressed his lips to Thace’s. 

It was… sweet. It didn’t have quite the same effect, but it had been so long since he had touched anyone that he wanted the contact. Shiro, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy it immensely, his tongue lightly stroking over Thace’s bottom lip and… 

He smelled good. Warm, aroused, and ripe. And just like that, Shiro had gone from ‘my precious fool who deserved to be protected from this hell’ to ‘Bend him over now.’

“Did you like that?”

Thace nodded, a bit afraid to speak for fear of giving himself away. Shiro gave him a soft smile before rubbing their cheeks together and pulling away. 

“Good.”

To be continued


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter happens after Shiro's body started changing, right after his particular flashback.

Two days in, and Thace was doing his best to care for Shiro through the fever. Not that there was much he could do save give him water and massage the cramps in his back and sides. Their only interruptions were the guard drones, who had ignored Thane’s shout for help. 

It made Thace uneasy. They should have reacted to such a large change from Shiro’s baseline metabolism. There should have had a fight in the arena. Instead he and Shiro had been left alone for this to happen. _That_ meant that this was expected. _That_ meant that this was planned. That meant _something_ bad for both of them.

“What happens afterwards?” Thace asked. He had wrapped himself around Shiro to hold him, keep him warm. His chest rumbled as he purred.

Shiro’s head rolled so his face was in the crook of Thace’s neck and shoulder. “Fever ends. Later, heat.”

Galra females typically had a love-hate relationship with their equivalent. The queens he had visited had told him the sex was fantastic. But it represented getting pregnant again, and the endless cycle of joy, dread, anguish and hoping that this time more than one or two might survive birth. Sometimes they lost the entire litter. He could not blame them for hating the whole process. 

“How long before it starts?” Shiro’s bare skin against his fur was blisteringly hot. “What do you want me to do?”

Shiro breathed out. “I can’t… Thace, you said Galra can breed with other species.”

He nodded. “It is- common.” Common, not always consensual, but common. Many of his kind had no chance to breed otherwise. The resulting offspring were the rank and file, the cannon fodder for the military machinery. They were denied full rights: they were not allowed to breed with pure females, hold a government office, not given the family name and were regularly ignored for promotion within the military.

“Uh. I’m going to be very, very easily aroused.” He nuzzled Thace’s neck. “Someone touches me? Smells healthy?” He felt Shiro’s lips move. “I’ll act like I’m drugged. Horny as hell.” He arched his back, almost writhing against Thace’s fur. He stank of pain. “Getting pregnant here would be -would be- a bad idea.”

Thace purred harder, careful of his talons as rubbed Shiro’s belly. Any other time, and the idea of getting to breed to Shiro, to knot his new cunt, to take their time and fill him so full of cum that his belly looked like it was getting ready for their whelps would have him hard and panting. The fantasy of a warm, safe den and the birthing and- He blinked, breaking the illusion as the longing made his chest ache.

Pregnancy here would be a death sentence for them both. Even if Shiro did survive to term, the druids would take ~~his~~ the whelp.

He wouldn’t let them get Shiro while he drew breath.

Shiro reached up and brushed a hand over his jaw. “Hey.”

He rubbed his chin on Shiro’s hair. “Yes?”

“Talk to me.” He rubbed his cheek on Thace’s chest. “You don’t… you don’t talk much about yourself. Just. Anything.” He laughed, but he sounded terrified. “I don’t want to think about what…”

Thace closed his eyes. So Shiro had guessed that this was deliberate as well.

“What do you want to know?”

He felt Shiro’s lips crease in a smile. “Tell me a story?”

Hope. They needed hope at that moment. Thace knew of such a story. He had told it often, once. “From days of long ago, from uncharted regions of the universe, comes a legend…”

~*~*~*~*~

The fever eventually faded, leaving Shiro changed.

He could barely stand afterwards, legs trembling like a newborn grass runner. His body was different, too. His belly had been flat and muscular before. Now, it… wasn’t. Now, his hips flared, just a bit. His chest and face were flushed. His tiny nipples had swollen, become tight, thick nubs that stuck out from his chest. Thace tried to ignore that, before Shiro was coaxed to put back on his clothes, he could see his new, soft slit behind his cock, which was swollen and pink and looked _hungry_ , somehow. 

He smelled different, too. Before he had smelled ripe; now he smelled desperate. All of Thace’s instincts were howling for press Shiro to the floor and _take._ But he had promised, and he _wasn’t_ a whelp anymore. Saving their lives was more important than aching balls.

By mutual agreement, they sat as far away from each other as possible. Shiro would look over at him, face pinched, moving restlessly, forcing his hands away from touching himself or reaching out to touch Thace. Shiro tried to joke a few times but it fell flat. If he had said, even in jest, what is body wanted Thace wasn’t sure if he could have kept from giving it to him. 

After the long days of fever, it was a very cold night.

They were pulled out of their cell the next day. 

Shiro wasn’t quite so bad. His body still screamed to Thace’s sense that he wanted to be bred, but he no longer looked like he was in pain. Instead he was leaning against Thace, one arm wrapped around Thace’s torso. Thace had an arm looped over his shoulders. 

Shiro moved closer, if it was possible. “Don’t… Thace. I don’t want them to touch me.”

“I know.” Thace exhaled as Shiro buried his face in Thace’s chest. Despite the situation, just having Shiro near him was arousing. But he had made a promise. “I’ll protect you as long as I can.”

Shiro closed his eyes, gritting his teeth as they were lead into a chamber.

It resembled an arena. It stank of other Galra, but it lacked the crowd. 

“What’s going on?” Shiro muttered. He was licking his lips, eyes narrowed. “Thace?”

“I don’t know.”

“Shouldn’t it be obvious?” a voice called. Across the way, a Galra half-breed strode in. All of Thace’s fur stood on end at the sight of him, ears pinning to his head as sheer hate made him lightheaded for a moment. “The old man failed to breed you properly. The druids have chosen someone without his performance issues and is up to the task.” 

“Heh,” Shiro muttered. He was weaving on his feet. “Trust me. ‘Up to the task’ is not his problem.”

Thace glanced down at him before shifting his attention to the other Galra in the room. “Commander Sendak,” Thace acknowledged. He stepped out in front of Shiro.

“Gen- ah, it’s _Citizen_ Thace, now, isn’t it,” Sendak said, smirking. “Brother. Long time no see.”

Shiro, despite himself, was looking back and forth between the two, lips pursed in a question. 

Thace eased himself into a fighting stance. He had no weapons on him. Sendak was already unsheathing his sword. “Shiro already made his views on being bred clear to me,” he told Sendak. “I shall respect those wishes.”

“He doesn’t have a choice.”

~*~*~*~*~

They stood in a circle of broken drones and specks of blood. Most of it was Thace’s, but Shiro had managed to get a weapon and was giving as good as he got.

The problem was that they couldn’t keep this up forever.

The half-breed traitor was unconscious, his prosthetic right eye cracked. Thace was on his knees in exhaustion, bracing himself in Sendak’s sword to get back to his feet. Their fight had been ugly, but the conclusion inevitable; it was amusing that the half-breed had forgotten who had trained him in fighting since he had milk-teeth. 

Sendak had been the only ‘suitor’ for Shiro; that didn’t mean he would be the last. He had brought in teams of drones to fight Thace, but for some reason hadn’t just opened fire with long distance weapons. In fact, if they had honestly wanted to drag Shiro out to breed him all it would have taken was gassing their cell-

“Thace,” Shiro said, stepping in front of him. He had been saying his name for some time.

He looked up at him, and wondered how the human had gotten so tall.

Thace was still on his knees. He shook his head, turning away. He needed to kill Sendak.

“Hey.” Shiro put his hands on Thace’s shoulders, brushing their cheeks together, teeth lightly grazing his chin. “Thace. Listen to me.”

He wrapped his arms around Thace’s neck. His body was nearly as hot as it was a few days ago, during the transformation. “Are you okay?”

“I’m,” Shiro started, then stopped. “I’m not fine. Just. Hear me out.” He took a deep, shaky breath. “This isn’t going to stop.” He held Thace more tightly. “Them. The druids. They aren’t going to give me a choice. But.” His voice was ragged. “I want to make one.” He pulled back, only to press his lips to Thace’s face. “I want you to breed me.”

“Shiro-“ 

His laugh was broken, and more than a little desperate. “It’s going to happen. I can’t change that. I haven’t had many choices since leaving Earth.” He kissed Thace again, and the blade dropped from Thace’s numb fingers. “You’re my partner, my friend, and I love you, you bastard.” Thace reached up to wipe the tears off of Shiro’s face. “All I can control here is who sires them. But I want your cubs.” He pressed their foreheads together. “I want them. And if we don’t do this now they’ll kill you.”

“Shiro…” He hadn’t wanted to fall in love with this fierce, strange, gentle alien. It was equal parts joy and despair. Joy that he had met someone so amazing _now_. Despair, that the Empire had one more weapon against them both.

They didn’t waste words or motions as they moved clothing out of the way, revealing Shiro’s new hole and the puddle of slick inside his pants. There wasn’t time for teasing, just desperate, raw need as Thace picked Shiro up. Shiro moaned, biting his bottom lip, gasping when his back hit the wall of the arena. 

They both watched Thace’s cock slide through the well of slick between Shiro’s legs, before the arrow-head tip pressed home. 

Thace shuddered, rocking his hips back and forth. Shiro’s mews and sighs told him he was doing well enough, remembering the other places the human enjoyed being touched. His cock, his tits, and Thace tried to just enjoy the sight of him caught up in pleasure.

Shiro answered by babbling. “Want you. Want your babies, Thace, want your seed. Fill me up. Been- oh god you know how hard it was?” His blunt fingers dug into Thace’s neck and back, enough to bruise. “Fucking sexy bastard. Wanted to climb you like a tree all damn night.” He pressed their lips together again. “Damn you for telling me you could knock me up. Been thinking about it since the fever started. Couldn’t get it out of my head.” The wet slaps of their coupling continued-

“Want to knot you,” Thace growled. Keeping the presence of mind to _not_ knot him was almost impossible. Shiro was so hot, wet and soft inside; the rim of his cunt stretching over the bulge at the base of his dick. “Can’t.” His instincts hated that, but he kept moving, angling himself when Shiro shrieked in pleasure when he hit the right spot.

Shiro’s babbling continued, talking about their cub, their beautiful, beautiful cub- wanted to feel it moving inside him, kicking and shifting and-

He came, his hot new hole clamping down on Thace’s dick even if he couldn’t take Thace to the root. Thace growled, reaching down to squeeze his knot. Shiro’s small hands joined him. He came a moment later, his semen filling Shiro to the brim before pouring out.

They both collapsed to the floor, panting as Shiro buried his face in Thace’s shoulder. He thought he heard sobbing.

Neither of them noticed the growl until it was too late.

To be continued.


	9. Chapter 9

Shiro was suspended in the healing pod. Not all of him was there. Sendak had taken the lower portion of his right arm.

Thace had taken his left. He should have taken Sendak’s life when he had the chance. 

He was still covered in Shiro’s blood. He had brought Shiro’s arm; they hadn’t made any move to try to reattach it. So he had held it like a doll until the doctors had taken it from him.

He was painfully aware that his thinking was less and less rational as time went on concerning the human. He had been heart-sick and grieving when they met, but… _free._ The Emperor had taken everything that meant anything to him. He had already been dead. His body just hadn’t realized it yet.

Except… except after meeting Shiro, he hadn’t been. 

None of their current situation made sense on the surface. If the druids had truly wanted to breed Shiro, all they would have needed to do was gas the cell and drag him out. If they had felt the need to breed Shiro with Thace’s seed specifically, they would have done much the same thing. All that was required was a sample of genetic material. 

It wasn’t even uncommon. Most queens preferred the ‘natural method’ but there were always a few that opted out. His lone surviving littermate was such. She simply didn’t enjoy it. But while sex was optional pregnancy was not: constant expansion of the Empire meant their numbers were always being depleted. 

That meant that there was someone who had wanted this to play out as a drama. There was no reason for Thace to be allowed in here with Shiro to begin with. He had followed when the drones had arrived to remove Shiro and Sendak from the arena. None had attempted to remove him or take him back to his cell.

So he got to stay there, watching Shiro’s still, lifeless body. A bare hour ago he had been wailing about how much he wanted their child. Thace had almost lost Shiro because he was distracted.

How long he stood there, watching Shiro in the pod, he had no idea. It could have been ticks. It could have been days. He was aware of sitting in front of the pod and sleeping. He barely noticed his body’s needs. Someone brought him food wafers at some point, but he didn’t know who. 

He didn’t fight when he was eventually lead away.

He did notice when he was shown into a communication room.

The face on the screen belonged to Zarkon. For a tick, his exhausted mind was split on which course of action to take. But there was only one from which he could possibly recover from.

So he sank to one knee. “My Emperor.”

_“Ah, Thace. It seems that your time in the arena has been good for your humility,”_ Zarkon answered. As always, little but amusement could be seen on his ancient face. _“You seem quite taken with the pet I gave you.”_

Thace fought to keep breathing. Only a lifetime of dealing with military politics and the Emperor’s court kept his reaction from his face. “The Champion has been… a pleasant diversion, my Emperor. He has proven himself a patient and cunning warrior.”

_“Indeed.”_ He could feel enjoyment radiating off the Emperor in waves. _“He will be a useful tool to the druids. They have plans for him.”_ The Emperor paused. _“Though I have been told congratulations are in order for you, first.”_ He settled backwards. _“It was a pity, and a waste, that Sendak ordered your sons’ execution for treason so quickly.”_

Thace exhaled. In a handful of oblique sentences, he had his answers. The Emperor had paired him with Shiro because Thace would come to care for him. After his sons’ deaths, Thace had been willing to die. Wanted it, even. Now, while his own death mattered little to him, he had Shiro. Shiro, and whatever potential whelp they may have made together.

Give him a substitute for the family he had lost, and then threaten to tear it away if he didn’t give Zarkon what he wanted. But in mentioning his sons, Zarkon had given away his bluff. He still hadn’t found _it_ yet.

“My Emperor is kind.” He throttled his rage. “How may I serve?”

_“Your youngest son was quite talented at treason. He has encrypted his files within a thought-box. It would take a specific memory to unlock it. But if you help us, I can forgive the stain on your family’s honor. We would be happy to see you raise your newest whelp.”_ He shrugged one shoulder. _“The druids would not be pleased to see someone so valuable as the Champion go to waste. But… provided you serve the Empire… I can spare him. You will return to service after the whelp is born.”_

Thace exhaled. In his mind’s eye, he saw his youngest staring at him with pleading eyes. Begging for him to keep his silence. At the time, he hadn’t known what his boy had chosen to do. Thace had always been loyal. The model of a Galra soldier. 

But the living couldn’t help the dead. Shiro needed time to heal.

“Very well, sire. I will help you uncover the location of the Red Lion.”

To be continued


	10. Chapter 10

// Where are you now? //

_Shiro woke up. In the back of his mind was a remembered pot of confusion and discomfort, along with disorientation of being in a completely new place._

_The room was much larger than the cell he had shared for the past … however long he had been in a cell. He smelled air- real air, unrefined by anything but a planet’s biosphere – as it blew from what he presumed was an open window. Planet-side then._

_His arm was gone._

// Shiro- its okay. This is all the past. You aren’t there now.//  
//My arm - //  
//You have a prosthetic now, remember? You’re safe. You’re all right.//

_He remembered, dimly, the only thing that kept him from an outright panic attack was the purring._

//Huh. Galra purr?//  
//Yeah. They do. It’s really soothing. //

_His past self reached out with his left hand, feeling fur under his hand. The purring got louder as he ran his hand over the thick mane on the Galra’s jaw. The jaw pressed into his hand, before the much bigger body curled against him._

_“Thace?”_

_He still couldn’t see the Galra’s face. “I’m here.”_

_“Where are we?”_

_“My Clan’s house.”_

_“Why?_ How? _” The last thing he clearly remembered was going into shock after Sendak had cut off his arm. Thace had fallen, and-_

_The sound from the large form behind him was mournful. “I gave Zarkon something he wanted.” He exhaled, and Shiro felt Thace’s mane against his cheek._

_Shiro remembered rolling over, but he_ still _couldn’t see his face. “What did you do?”_

_Thace was laying out in front of him, face obscured by whatever was affecting his memories. "Something terrible.”_

“Not what I asked, _you condescending bastard.” He eased in closer, breathing in Thace’s scent. He was shying away from what happened to his arm, how bloated he felt, in favor of grilling Thace._

// I seem to remember having a breakdown later. //  
// Oh, god, I’m so sorry, Shiro. // The thought was echoed by several voices.

_“There was a great weapon that the Emperor has been looking for. Officially, it doesn’t exist. But my youngest son found it. Or at least, he found part of it.” Thace lapsed into silence for a moment. At the time, Shiro hadn’t noticed. Now he heard the pain he kept hidden. “He didn’t tell the Emperor. He had been part of the Resistance movement-“_

//Woah woah woah- hold the phone. Resistance movement?//  
//This is the first I remember hearing about it. //  
//Well, it makes sense. There can’t be just a monolith. We’ve met all sorts of species and the Galra can’t all be Space Nazis. //  
//Was he talking about Voltron? //

_They all paused. Shiro hadn’t connected the dots of this particular narrative. He had been caught up in his own drama at that moment. He had only heard of Voltron when he had been too sick to really think about it._

_The memory resumed. “So he had reason to keep it secret once he realized what he had found. But, he was betrayed by someone he thought of as family.”_

_“Sendak.”_ There were echoes of surprise from everyone in the room with Shiro. 

_“Yes. He turned on my youngest son, Mayth. I didn’t know that Mayth had contacted his older brother, Zace, for help. Zace had always doted on Mayth. So instead of following procedure and turning his brother in, he chose to cover up his involvement. Sendak chose to have them executed before I could intervene.”_

_Shiro hissed. “And you..?”_

_“Had no idea what was happening until it was too late.” Thace stopped again. “I was sent to the gladiator arena because they thought I knew something.” Thace shrugged. “I didn’t. But I am the only person who can decrypt my son’s files.”_

_Shiro breathed. His head was spinning with too many things, both remembered and current._

// Okay, can we look around to see where you are now? //

_The memory shifted. They were walking through what looked to be a well-weathered stone building that resembled a castle. Shiro’s attention kept wavering between looking around through the memory and his attention on his partner._

_He looked good. Very good, outside of the standard prison uniform, showing off that he was lithe but strong. Natural light showed some mottling in the purple of his mane, along with the gray at his temples. His arm was draped over Shiro’s shoulders, and Shiro’s one arm was circled around his waist. And his_ scent-

// Shiro, um. Castle of Lions to Shiro. Could you… _not_ pay attention to your… Galra-friend? //

Right. They were trying for more than names. Locations. Faces. Too bad there was anything _but_ in his memory.

Shiro let the memory shift to something else. _They were outside, in the dim light of a distant sun while a gas giant, covered in curling storms, hung in the distance while the horizon was streaked in rings. They were on the ramparts of the same old stone building, with a metal box of food and drink. They had managed to rig up something that looked like a checkerboard. Shiro was crowing that he had beaten Thace, who demanded a rematch._

_Shiro remembered that his hair grown past his ears then, growing faster because of the pregnancy. He had been laughing at Thace because his ears were pinned back, mane bristling as he made an annoyed little cat-chirp. Shiro’s hand had absently fallen to stroke his heavy belly, feeling where it had rounded out._

_The memory caused everyone to gasp as they all felt the kick._

// Shiro, was that? //  
// Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow- //  
// Ouch. Future soccer player right there! //

_Thace had reached towards him at Shiro’s small gasp, concerned, but Shiro just shook his head, rubbing his belly with a wry smile. “I think bean’s cheering Papa on.”_

// Bean? //  
// _Mame_. Mom called my brother that, before he was born. //

_Thace had smiled; he could remember the smile happened but he had no idea what it looked like. Thace had scooted over, pulling Shiro into his lap and murmuring endearments, lips brushing over Shiro’s ear. Shiro had directed his hands to where the bean was moving, apparently happy to put on a show for Papa before settling down._

_It was a good memory. There had been so few of them, he didn’t want to leave it yet. He was aware of Thace’s deep purr, his hands easing upwards to lightly tease his tits. Thace had adored his pregnant body, taking every opportunity to touch. Shiro rubbed his cheek against Thace’s, and rubbed his ass against Thace’s crotch while he chuckled-_

_-he was on his hands and knees, big belly brushing the ground as Thace filled him with his knot-_

All around Shiro there was a clatter, as each and every Paladin in the room (Shiro included) dropped the headsets that let them see each other’s thoughts. For a moment, no one moved. Shiro couldn’t bring himself to speak.

Lance’s face was a brilliant scarlet as he jumped to his feet, breathing raggedly and covered his mouth. Without a word he streaked out the door as fast as his legs would carry him. Keith paused a moment, a growl deep in his chest before giving chase.

Pidge’s mouth opened and shut several times before speaking. “Okay. Shiro’s a furry. Glad we cleared that one up,” Pidge said. She was squirming, giving Shiro a weird look.

“I am totally having a sexuality crisis right now,” Hunk said, eyes bulging out as he stared at Shiro. “I need a shower.”

Shiro curled up on himself, clearing his throat, trying to speak but failing. 

“Ah. All right everyone,” Allura said over the intercom. She seemed just as uncomfortable as everyone else. “I… think we should take a break. Yes. We can come back in, say, what was the human time… two hours? Should be enough time for everyone to… recover? Clean up? Yes.”

The line went dead. Shiro slapped his hands over his face. He didn’t know if he could ever look anyone here in the eye ever again.

~*~*~*~*~

The plan had been for the other Paladins to help Shiro remember what had happened to him. For some reason, no matter what other details came up (oh dear god did they come up) he couldn’t see Thace’s face. Getting his name had driven Shiro to the edge of his sanity.

But there was one thing he wanted even more. So they went back into his memories.

Unfortunately for everyone there, _they all felt the pop when his water broke. There was a moment of panic from everyone, before Shiro pushed the sensations away. It was like swimming upstream as he skimmed the memories, wanting to dive in, relive it no matter how much it hurt. He had lost these and they were_ his.

_After a short eternity they were in the dark, sitting together with Shiro as he held his cub in his arms. They all heard the purr, felt the exhaustion. “What’s his name?”_

_Shiro went blank. He couldn’t see Thace’s face. He couldn’t see the cub’s. He scrambled and clawed, but he couldn’t find a way to get hear or to see; he might as well have blind and deaf in that moment. Nothing existed. The name was on the tip of his tongue. Thick black tar seemed to cover the memory, veil his eyes._

_The others were there. Around him, he heard his friends_ push, _tearing at the veil covering his memories. Behind them was a growl. A roar. Black was with them, and on the edges of Black’s growl was a rainbow of others. He wasn’t alone-_

_Brightness._

_It shone through as he found purchase, fingers and claws raw, but he found it. Together they_ heaved _, hauling with all their might to rip away the veil._

_In Shiro’s arms was his cub. Small, fragile, and looking up at him with serious dark eyes and a frown about finding himself someplace cold. Thace had declared him a tom a few moments before, but that didn’t mean much yet- he could be an in-between like Shiro. His triangular ears were folded down, close to his face, but they sat about where Shiro’s ears did. His skin had a fine layer of fur turning into a thick black rug on top. But… the shape of his face reminded Shiro of his own mother’s, along with the nose. He had ten spindly little fingers and toes like a human, and his nails would need to be cut almost immediately. His tiny mouth started to suck on air as Shiro quickly brought him to his breast._

What’s his name? 

_“Well, it’s meaningless to you-“ he remembered saying._

_Thace snorted, but his purr continued._

_“Give me your hand. Hold him here,” he ordered, and Thace obeyed, bracing the cub while offering Shiro his palm. He traced out the kanji in Thace’s hand. “Akira. This- it means ‘bright.’ Like a sunrise. Like having hope.” He fell back against Thace’s chest. He was crying. He couldn’t stop crying. He had never wanted his body to shift, he had never expected to go through a heat, had never imagined getting pregnant. Hell, being kidnapped by aliens and forced to kill had never been within the remote realm of possibility._

_But he had just helped make the most beautiful little person in the universe with someone he loved so deeply his chest ached. He didn’t deserve the joy and peace he felt. He had his baby’s name, his face. He was loved and loved in return. He didn’t deserve any of that for a moment._

_He looked up to try to see Thace-_

_The blackness surged upwards, yanking him down with the rest of the Paladins and into a nightmare._

  
~*~*~*~*~  


_Shiro didn’t know where he was._

 _It wasn’t the_ Orpheus. _It wasn’t his cell. He was in someone’s personal room: a bunk and something that looked like a footlocker were beside a desk with a monitor over it. The lights were a dim red._

_He was straddling a Galra’s chest, both hands around his thick neck as the Galra tried to speak. His lips were forming words, words that Shiro almost couldn’t hear. The only thing that Shiro could really hear was the sound of a cub crying._

_“What- where-?”_

_“_ Omon no namae Shirogane Takashi, _” the Galra rasped. His accent was terrible, but… Shiro recognized the words without the translator. He bolted away, staring down at the large Galra as he stood up. The Galra put his hands up in the air, before getting to his feet. “_ Seifu _.”_

_Shiro saw the cub- maybe a month old, at most- wailing at the top of its lungs from where it’s… bassinet? Box? Had been knocked over. The sound pierced his heart and head and he couldn’t understand why._

_“You are on board a Galran cruiser,” the Galra said quietly, picking up the cub and shushing it with a few bounces as he held it to his chest. Shiro had a hand out to it before drawing back. “You were sent to kill me.”_

_“What?” This wasn’t the arena. That much was obvious. What was the arena. Why did he know about an arena? But this wasn’t the arena. “Who are you? What’s your name?”_

_The Galra’s back was to him, but he saw the Galra’s shoulders twitch. “Meaningless to you.” Shiro blinked. “Listen to me. Zarkon. You know who Zarkon is, right?” Shiro nodded, feeling the blood drain from his face. He knew but he didn’t. Which made perfect sense at the moment. “He’s looking for a weapon. I think one of them is on your Earth.” Shiro’s head rang and buzzed as those words penetrated. Zarkon would be coming for his home. The Galra turned around. “I don’t know how much you will remember. The druid’s magic is strong. But you must escape. Now. While you are outside of their control. Go back to Earth, and find Voltron.” He leaned down, brushing their cheeks together, teeth grazing Shiro’s chin._

_Shiro instinctively jerked away._

_The Galra stopped, face utterly still. “You have ten of your minutes.” He gestured at his monitor, and a layout of the cruiser appeared, showing Shiro where to go. “You know the guard rotation?” Shiro blinked at that, his fingers instinctively tapping to seven. “Good. I can remote prep a pod for launch for you.”_

_“How will you keep them from following me?”_

_“I’ll give them the location of another piece of Voltron, away from Earth. It should keep them from coming in force for a time.”_

_The Galra opened the door. Shiro stared at him._

_“I almost killed you. Why are you helping me?”_

_The Galra smiled at him. Then he shoved Shiro out the door._

~*~*~*~*~

They came back to themselves a tick later. Shiro tore off the headset, hunched over, holding his knees. His eyes stung as he fought to keep the tears down.

He had his son’s name, at least. That was good. He hadn’t killed his mate and child. That was good, too. He still didn’t know if he would ever see them again. He didn’t know if-

He struggled to get to his feet, unable to look at the other Paladins. He had seen a face this time, right? But he hadn’t known it. Not… not really.

The sound of sniffles was what brought him out of his funk. Hunk was sobbing as he walked up to Shiro and pulled him into a bear hug. Pidge was a bare tick behind, wrapping her arms around his waist. Lance was sniffling loudly as he took a position at Shiro’s back while Keith tried to move in but couldn’t quite find space, popping around in circles before Lance hauled him in. 

“I- guys. It’s okay. I’m okay,” Shiro said. It was a lie, of course it was a _lie_ , it couldn’t be anything else. But he had to keep his image for the team and-

“Shiro, man, I gotta say. We just went through childbirth with you. We helped you find your kid’s _name_. We saw you completely forget them all.” Hunk squeezed tighter. “We will totally support you crying. You deserve _all_ the crying.”

Shiro shook his head. 

“Shiro, you’re our pack.” This was Keith, who looked flustered at the mere idea of expressing feelings. Shiro felt honored that he even spoke. “You lead our pack. Even if you’re not an Alpha, we all respect you and will follow you.”

Pidge hummed to herself. “You’re totally our pack dam.” She chuckled. “Even hiss at Keith when he’s being all Alpha.”

Lance said, “We’re totally going to find your kid, Shiro. Just… we can do this. We’ll find Akira, we’ll find the Holts, and… and… We can do this. Okay?”

Shiro exhaled, nodding, before finally letting the tears fall. But this time he wasn’t alone. Things were a bit brighter now.

To be continued


	11. Chapter 11

Getting Akira’s name back had made things both better and worse. Now he had a name to call in his nightmares when those cold fingers grabbed him. In those dreams he would cry, scream and curse while Thace- face still blocked- would whisper an apology as he took Akira from his arm. 

But he also remembered that Thace had helped him escape. He remembered his fingers, metal and flesh, wrapped around Thace’s neck as he had _squeezed_ \- while Akira cried in the background-

Those were bad nights. They got even worse after their disastrous attempt to get information from the Galra outpost and lost Allura. Getting her back after things went FUBAR had been a miracle. No. More than that. They had gotten help from the inside. Someone had dropped the solar barrier to allow their escape.

Shiro had a feeling he knew who it had been. So after waking himself up with dreams of watching Thace being tortured to death while Akira was handed to the druids, he went to the gym to wear himself out. Unfortunately, all that did was aggravate the wound in his side. So he took a quick shower and detoured to the CIC. He opened the door to find he wasn’t alone.

“Are you okay, Allura?” he asked, padding over to see Allura staring out at the void through the protection of the holo-display. She was curled up, the mice perched on lap, looking weary.

She made a face. “You too? Coran’s been fussing like a- what animal was it? Is he turning into a, what did Pidge say, a broody Omega?”

Shiro winced. “Not quite an animal. I think we explained to you how our sexes work? Omegas are stereotyped as having very strong maternal instincts. They- we- get depressed when our cubs are out of sight.”

It was always strange hearing her or Coran. Her voice was, if he cared to focus, oddly doubled as the translator microbes shifted her regular speech to something he could understand. Sometimes it even tripled depending on his mood, hearing her in an elegant Received Pronunciation or keigo. He had gotten used to hearing the Galra language in much the same way, even if Thace had given Japanese a try.

Allura winced. “Sorry. I- well.” She dithered for a moment, before composing herself. “Shiro. You know we will do everything in our power to see your cub returned to you.” She exhaled. “But have you considered beyond that? We find Akira, what will you do?”

Shiro licked his lips. “I don’t want to give up piloting the Black Lion.” He took a seat beside Allura, curling up and hugging his knees. He could hear her purr in his mind. “I don’t think she minds if I have Akira with me.” Indeed, she seemed to approve. He felt a sensation of being on his side, listening to the small grunts and cries of kits as they rooted for a nipple, tiny kneading claws on his teats. She thought this would be a fine nest. 

“Plus, Thace would be willing to help, once we find him.”

Allura winced. “About Thace-“

“What’s wrong?”

“Just… can we trust him? If we find him, can we really bring him on board?”

“He would be an asset,” Shiro pointed out. “He knows the Empire and its politics and military strategies, the current state of affairs. Those are things we need. Plus, he hates Zarkon.”

“But does that mean he is willing to do war with his own people? On top of that…” She turned uneasy. “In my time, it was rumored that Galra toms… If they ever smelled another tom in the area, they would kill any whelps around.” She hugged her chest, a disturbed look on her face. 

Shiro shook his head. “They… They don’t do that anymore.” Thace could and would kill, but he didn’t do it casually. On top of that- “Pure Galran females don’t choose their mates even if they can reject the ones selected for them. On top of that, so few are born at a time, and their gender ratio is so imbalanced-“

Allura looked disturbed. “That… that wasn’t true ten thousand years ago.”

Shiro rubbed the back of his neck. “We didn’t have much to do but talk. I don’t think he would have lied, either.”

Allura opened her mouth to speak when Coran came over the intercom, calling for everyone to come to the dining room. It looked like they had just gotten a message.

~*~*~*~*~

The message, it turned out, came from an information broker. Said broker was willing to sell them classified intel from a high level Galran defector.

They discussed their next action. It was decided pretty early on to take the risk of going out to Ix Chel in the Ix Tab system. It was a backwater, on the frontier of known space, the outer fringes of the Galra empire. It was a place that was logical for a fugitive to hide. 

“And then we can find Baby Daddy!” Lance crowed as they crowded into the Green Lion. They were going to use her cloaking to get to the surface undetected.

“Could you not call him that?” Keith groaned. “It’s ridiculous!”

“Ah, don’t be jealous-“ 

Keith’s face turned red. “Wh- what?”

Shiro stood in the background watching this exchange with fascination before calling the Castle. 

_“We’re hidden behind the fifth planet,”_ Coran reported. _“In one of the wider rings. Enough electromagnetic and radiation interference that we can’t be detected directly.”_

“We got it, Shiro. I’ll mimic a Galra and case the place out,” Allura said. She smiled. “And I promise I won’t throw anyone. I’ll also keep in contact so Mum won’t get worried.” She patted Shiro on the cheek.

“I do not- I am not your mother!”

“Shiro, give up. You are our Space Dam,” Hunk added. He started ticking off points on his fingers. “You check up on us at night. You make sure we’ve been eating. You-“

Shiro reached back to grab Lance and pull Keith off him before they came to blows. Or started making out. He wasn't sure which.

“You break up fights-“

“Hey, everyone, trying to concentrate on flying!” Pidge griped.

“Well I’d make a better one!” Keith shouted, and Shiro decided enough was enough.

“Everyone, shut up or by god I am going to turn this Lion around and go straight back to the Castle!” he snarled, following it up with small hiss and spit. Everyone, save Allura, went silent immediately.

“Thank you!” Pidge said, finally, turning her attention back to piloting.

“…and threatens to turn everyone around…”

Shiro pinched the bridge of his nose, eyebrows twitching. 

This particular planet was more arid than most, according to Allura. It had water, but it didn’t seem to have vast oceans like Arus or Earth. A handful of lakes, but more dirt than water. So their disguises resembled so much thick robes with a water reclamation suit underneath. Allura told them to wait while she grew to Galra size again, her skin turning purple. She said she would keep in contact… and then wandered into town, hood low over her face.

All they had to do was keep hiding from the locals. All they had to do was stay out of sight.

“Who votes that we go into town?” Lance asked fifteen minutes after she left. He had his fingers in Keith’s hair, absently carding it with his fingers. Keith’s face had turned the color of a tomato, even if he looked like he wanted to melt into a puddle of happy goo. Shiro could have sworn he heard purring.

“Allura said we should stay here and lay low. It’s not like we don’t stand out, Lance,” Shiro said. They were waiting on the outskirts of a small trading outpost that resembled Mos Eisley to an uncanny degree. “Huh. It looks like Star Wars won.”

Pidge grunted. “Star Trek was still better.”

“I’m serious, guys, we’re on an alien world. And when will be the next time we get a chance to be planet side?” Lance went on. “Real air. New aliens. Coran didn’t detect any Galra ships. Let’s seek out new life and new civilizations.”

“We aren’t going into town until Allura’s given us the all clear,” Shiro barked, crossing his arms. 

“Well, you can’t deny that in a world with giant mechanical magic space lions, Star Wars seems a lot more realistic,” Hunk answered Pidge. 

“Moooooooooomm. Can we please play outside!”

Shiro’s eyebrows twitched. “Fine! You know what? FINE! Just don’t go into town and stay within sight of Green Lion!”

He knew this was a bad idea when Green Lion lowered her head, allowing Lance and Keith to go out onto the surface. 

He stood there for a moment, with the breeze in his face. He had to admit, it smelled good. Despite himself he went walking down the ramp after them, before turning to see Pidge and Hunk sitting next to each other and talking, hunched over a piece of machinery. He smiled and waved before heading out to the surface.

The Castle was beautiful, but nothing would be like being out in a natural atmosphere. He loved space, but after months of being a prisoner? He spread his arms out, just feeling the star’s heat. He just breathed in, smelling dust and plants and strange and… something familiar.

 _\- You like to bask in the sun? –_  
\- _Your fur feels nice like this-_  
Shiro blinked, making small huffs of air, tongue half out. He could _swear_ -

The ground rumbled under his feet, before something erupted from the ground in a shower of dirt and rocks, surging forward in a stream of slate gray scales. 

Someone grabbed Shiro’s hand. He looked down and up in time to see a big, hooded body and a green, reptilian face.

“My name is Memnon,” he said, and Shiro was hauled away from the crater while his mouth still gaped. The kaiju’s body resolved itself into a coiled, narrow form that looked more like an eel than a snake. “It’s gonna attack your big ship over yonder.” Memnon unsheathed a sword. “How bout I keep ‘m busy while you take ‘m out? Stick to the rock- it can’t feel you walking on it.”

Shiro looked up, looked down, and nodded as the alien ran away from him, dragging his sword to draw the kaiju’s attention. The landscape around him was dirt, dirt- and behind him, by about two meters, was an outcrop. He ran up the side.

~*~*~*~*~

The fight left Shiro with an aching shoulder, a deep rend in his robe and water reclamation suit, and a bump on the head. The alien had walked over, and without a by-your-leave, had started poking Shiro’s scalp and mumbling about damn fool aliens not checking for danger.

“Uh. Thank you. You saved my life,” Shiro said, and the alien waved him off. 

“What’s your name?”

“Shirogane Takashi,” he answered. “A pleasure to meet you.”

“That’s about meaningless to me,” the alien said, scratching his face. “Lookin’ for some folks, though. You might be them.” He pulled back his hood, revealing a noseless face, no lips and thick, alligator hide. “You happen to go by ‘Shiro’?”

“Uh… yes?”

Memnon snapped his fingers. “Yup! That’s the one. Had someone lookin’ like a Galra come through, not quite, figured I might wanna check out where she came from.” He shook his head. “Not many Galra queens runnin’ around. Gave y’all away.”

Shiro winced. He should have thought of that. “Well. Um. Why are you looking for us?”

“Y’all trying to find some old fart by the name of Thace?”

“Yes-“ Shiro said, stepping forward, something painful lodging underneath his breastbone. His brain screeched that this mind be a trap. That this could be someone feeding them false information. “We didn’t have a name for the contact.”

Memnon tilted his head to the side and narrowed his eyes. “Didn’t know if y’all would come. The main patrols ain’t made their way out here yet. They’re a few weeks off yonder. But… the old fart got some big wigs right flipping mad. I don’t wanna be here when they come.”

Now Shiro’s eyes narrowed. “What are you saying?”

“I’m a broker. Y’all give me passage, me and my goods, and I’ll give you all the information the coot left me.”

“And how do we know that your information is good?” a voice said, and Shiro looked up to see Allura behind them, carefully standing on rocky ground so not to draw the attention of another monster. Behind her, the rest of the team stood, bayards out. Shiro shook his head, stepping between them.

“It’s good, pretty lady,” the alien answered. “Y’all wanna sample? I’m gonna reach to my belt. Gotta holo-projector. Got something to show you.”

Shiro turned, as he pulled what appeared to be a small coin in his three-fingered hand. Passing his thumb over it, an image shown over it. One that made his heart go still. Somehow he had half expected it to be Akira.

He heard Pidge swallow a gasp. 

“These two,” Memnon said. “The old coot said he couldn’t get a handle on their location, but he wanted you to know they was alive.” 

The image of Matt and Sam Holt, dressed in something better than prison rags, and not looking to be in pain or traumatized made him light headed with relief. Pidge ran forward, almost stepping on dirt herself- Shiro caught her at the last minute. “You know who they are? Are they okay? Where-“

Memnon looked first at Shiro, then at Pidge, and back again. “They’re alive, honey. Don’t know much else. They got turned into pets right quick cause of their smarts. I know how to find them though. Same with Thace. You give me passage off this rock and it’s yours.”

Pidge turned to Allura and Shiro with pleading eyes. 

Allura’s face softened. “Very well. You can come. We’ll ask you to keep anything that can record information to yourself, and stay out of sensitive areas of the ship.”

“Pleasure doing business with you.” Memnon smiled, showing off fangs. “Now, I gotta go get some precious cargo. Be back in a snap.”

Shiro watched his back as he walked over a hill. He took a deep breath. 

He could have sworn he smelled clean cat fur and incense.


	12. Chapter 12

_“If things were different, do you think we would have met?” Shiro asked one day, while Thace washed his hair. Parting it with his fingers revealed it was going white at the roots with flecks of gray throughout._

_Shiro had approved of the ancient, old-fashioned bathing chamber in the basement of the even older Clan house. It reminded him of a natural hot spring on his world. He had good memories of those places, and was happy to describe them, in detail. Thace had just enjoyed seeing his face be animated and relaxed. The weight of their situation had sat as heavily as the whelp under his heart._

_Thace thought of a way to answer the question outside of a blunt ‘no.’ It took so long that he had finished washing and rinsing Shiro’s hair then washing his back. Shiro had gotten a brush and had started carding down the fur of Thace’s back, and the shaggier, thicker length of his chest and shoulders._

_“If we had been born on the same planet, perhaps. Or even the same sector of space. But as we are now, if you had not been kidnapped, of if I had not been punished for treason? We would never have known each other.”_

_Shiro was silent for a moment, one hand working the brush, absently tapping it on the floor to get rid of the loose hair. “Same planet, huh? Okay.” He hummed, sighing. “Both of us born on Earth... We met at… hm. I can see you doing military work. I was a pilot for an international space agency. We met at an aerospace conference and hit it off. We went out for drinks.” He could feel Shiro smile. “I used my charm to get you to try karaoke. You happen to have a lovely singing voice I never hear because you’re too drunk.”_

_Thace snorted as they got to their feet and offered Shiro his hand as they got into the hot pool. Thace sat down first, and Shiro sat between his splayed legs, back to chest. Shiro sighed, both with their hands resting on his heavy belly. “Your turn.”_

_“Hm. Very well. I took early retirement to focus on helping Mayth with his archaeological research. Zace met you during your mandatory military service after your planet joined the Empire. He dragged you here because that’s what he does… what he_ did _, with his friends. We would have met and I would have thought you were very cute. We would have engaged in conversation. Perhaps I attempted to flirt.” He snorted and looked away. “Tried to impress you with my skill at Earth checkers. You would have laughed.”_

_Shiro was silent, reaching up to touch the gray in Thace’s hair, wearing something like wistful melancholy on his face. “How old are you?”_

_Thace and Shiro had tried to convert time before. “Galra tend to be long-lived. I’m just into middle age. By your units… relative to a human between forty and fifty years old.” But he reckoned, in absolute time, far older than that._

_Shiro swallowed. “So. This. All of this.” This world they were on, under house arrest by the drones out front, pantomiming a regular life together. At least until the whelp was born. “Really a one-in-a-billion chance.”_

_Thace took a deep breath. “I am not happy that you have gone through so much misery, Shiro. If I could spare you this, I would. I would make it so that we never met, that you had never known of the existence of the Galra. You deserve to have lived a peaceful life with someone of your own kind.”_

_“You’re still a condescending bastard,” Shiro muttered._

_“I wasn’t finished.”_

_“Well, go on then.”_

_Thace kissed Shiro’s hair, his right ear then down the side of his neck, absently tracing lines up the inside of his thighs. “I would rather this had never happened to you.” He heard Shiro mew as his talons brushed over his nether-lips. Even in the water he could tell Shiro was slick already. “But I’m grateful, having you in my life.” He brushed their cheeks together as Shiro spread his legs wider in invitation. “I’m happy you’re with me.” His cock slid out of its sheath, pressing against Shiro’s ass. Shiro rubbed against it. “And even if we only met through a billion to one chance, I would try to find you again.”_

_Shiro muttered to himself, arm coming up to hook behind Thace’s neck while Thace lifted him by his ass, letting the tip of thick erection press against his cunt. Together they eased Shiro down until he was over Thace’s knot._

_Shiro shivered._

_“I’m here because I chose to be a pilot. I chose not to kill you.” He looked up at Thace, nipping at his chin. “I choose to have your cub.” Thace rolled his hips, thrusting upwards into Shiro’s hot, stretched pussy, making them both sigh. “Yeah. What’s happened has been rough. But… I want to be with you. Don’t insult my-“ Shiro’s hand clenched on the back of Thace’s neck, gasping as Thace hit his g-spot. “Choices.”_

_Thace didn’t answer, just concentrated on drawing out Shiro’s pleasure._

_Enjoying their time together, just a little longer._

~*~*~*~*~*~

Memnon’s presence on board the Castle ship was… a change, to say the least.

His destination was not someplace that they could simply go to through a wormhole. Apparently it was so filled with black holes that they would have to take a more circuitous route. That meant having an unknown alien on board for a few days.

It was novel, after so many months of being by themselves, having someone new around, even for a few days. The first bit of sign of something wrong had been when Memnon had asked Shiro about the whole ‘Champion’ thing.

They were showing him to a room on the Castle after they had taken off, helping with his ‘cargo.’ So far it looked to be some pretty impressive luggage. He had allowed them to put most of it on an anti-grav dolly, save for an exceptionally large footlocker, which he carried on his back. 

“News is hard to come by. It’s why there’s always gonna be work for someone like myself. You look like the same species as Champion. I saw ‘im fight.”

“How?” Shiro asked, blinking at the alien. He didn’t look like someone allowed on a Galra ship. 

“Them shows were shown all over. The Champion looked a fair bit like you.”

He couldn’t stop the flinch, or the momentary flash of being back _there_. There, watching as the small alien struck out in its anger and grief-  
“Hey- hey- you’re here. You’re safe,” Memnon said, exaggerated accent dropping to something barely noticeable. “Can you hear me?” He was barely aware of clenching his right fist over and over again as he tried to breathe. Memnon tried to take his hand.

He also couldn’t stop Keith, or the rest, from noticing. 

“Back off,” Keith ordered, stepping in front of Shiro. “It’s none of your business.” His eyes were wide, baring his teeth as his hands came up -attack or defense, Shiro didn’t know- in an Alpha display. 

“Calm down,” Lance muttered, walking up to him and putting a hand on his shoulder. “Hey-“

He shoved Lance behind himself with Shiro. Hunk and Pidge both groaned and muttered something about Alphas.

Memnon kept his eyes on Shiro, ignoring Keith’s snarls. “You back with us?” The accent was back. But this time Shiro could hear something… off, about it. Like the microbes, instead of just doubling his voice like usual, were actually changing it.

“Yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck. Keith was _still_ growling. “You can calm down, Keith.”

Memnon shifted his attention, and this time he was smirking. “You really want to challenge me, whelp?”

~*~*~*~*~

The next awkward moment was the sparring match. Keith had his bayard, while Memnon had his sword. Keith had shed his robes and reclamation suit, but Memnon didn’t.

“My bet’s on my man Keith,” Lance said, hanging off of Shiro’s shoulder. “He went head to head with Zarkon and he had a sword-“

“Keith was in his Lion at the time,” Pidge interrupted. “We don’t know anything about this guy. You fought that big eel thing on Ix Chel.” Her voice lowered. “And I can’t scan his equipment. Well, some of it I can. I can’t get into his footlocker, though. Its shields are so hard that I’d be afraid to touch it.”

“You think it’s got a weapon inside?” Hunk asked, and they all huddled together, watching as Memnon and Keith faced off. 

“That’s just it, I don’t know.” Pidge looked personally insulted. “Those are good shields. They could even deflect weapon’s fire. He’s also got a personal shield of some kind on him. I can barely tell that he breathes, let alone get other life signs. The Castle sensors can barely pick him up.”

“Huh.” Shiro frowned. “Well, people don’t always like information brokers. And he could guess what we wanted-“

Pidge bristled. “Do we have to wait until we drop him off to get the information?” In front of them, the two crossed swords. Keith went for a head strike while Memnon feinted, trying for his arms. Both were surprised, it seems, when they were both able to dodge each other. 

“We took him on board in good faith,” Shiro hissed. “We don’t drop our guard, but… we shouldn’t threaten the guy.”

“He could be a spy.” Hunk was always the voice of reason. “We don’t know that he didn’t betray your galra-friend, either. Lance, do you think-“

“Hm?” Lance was watching Keith, and Shiro poked him for tuning out the conversation. “Sorry. Just… yeah.” He didn’t look away from the fight. The air was thick with aggressive, protective pheromones. “My ovaries are kind of exploding here.”

Shiro glanced over-  
\- _Thace fighting Sendak, growling, savage, strong and graceful and_ give me your cubs now-

“Oh shit.” Shiro crossed his legs as slick puddled in his briefs. That… hadn’t happened before. Not since… well. He did remember a _few_ things. He cleared his throat. Once. Twice. “Okay. Um. Let’s keep an eye on…” Memnon was graceful. Very skilled, too. He and Keith were pretty well matched, but his money was on the alien. He had the feeling Memnon could have won much earlier- confirmed as he did a twist with his blade, sending Keith’s bayard flying- but both of them were smiling as Memnon offered Keith a hand. Their mouths moved; it looked like the alien was asking Keith about technique. 

He glanced over. Lance’s face was flushed, pupils dilated as stared at Keith. Hunk sighed. Pidge eyed Shiro.

“Huh. What I thought. All your kind _do_ change color like that,” Memnon murmured, amused, glancing between Lance and Shiro. Keith had a shit-eating smile on his face as he looked at Lance, who seemed to get redder. 

“Oh-kay,” Pidge said. “Now-“

Keith reached down, grabbed Lance by both hands and hauled him upwards, before spinning on his heel and dragging him off. 

Hunk and Pidge both hauled Shiro to his feet. He was grateful for their presence. His knees were jelly. 

Memnon just kept looking at them with this bizarrely amused face. “I guess I’ll see y’all later?”

Shiro nodded, licking his lips. The air was still thick with pheromones, but… Keith _never_ had this effect on him. 

Memnon walked past him, and Shiro shivered. He was going to need a change of clothes after this.

“Well. That was the weirdest Alpha fight ever,” Pidge muttered. She stood on tiptoes to whisper to hiss up at Shiro’s ear. “I’ll try to check on that footlocker tonight. Keep him busy at dinner.”

~*~*~*~*~

Dinner turned out well. Mostly because Memnon had eaten Coran’s food without flinching. Coran had been so happy that he ignored when the alien had put his boots on the table. He was sitting with Lance and Hunk, who had pulled out a deck of cards they had fabricated and were teaching him how to play gin rummy.

Well. Even if this alien was… confusing, he was at least pleasant company. He went out of his way to be gregarious. Even teasing Lance and Keith after they had come in to join them for the meal, scrubbed and wearing that freshly laid glow, talking to Pidge about her programming and recommending a planet to find foodstuffs with Hunk. 

He was a bit cool towards Allura, but she didn’t seem as easily charmed. 

So, when it came time for Memnon to try shuffling the cards, everyone tensed when he asked, “So why you folks looking for that old coot anyways?”

Shiro felt everyone’s eyes on him. He licked his lips. Suddenly he was reminded that, for all that this alien had been pleasant, he didn’t know them. “We need contacts. Thace is someone I knew from… the time I was Champion.”

Memnon’s eyebrow ridges quirked. “So it _was_ you. Hmph. How’d you meet ‘im?”

Shiro could swear every ear in the room perked up like a rabbit’s. “We were fighting in the arena.”

“And… what? How’d you two not kill each other? Cause that’s what generally happens.” Memnon shrugged. “I didn’t watch much.”

Shiro, who had been stirring his food goo, looked down at it. “I don’t remember.” All of his friends seemed to deflate. “My memory of my time there is full of holes. I remember a handful of things.” Well, his dick and pussy seemed to, that was for sure. “Not a lot of details.” He tapped the side of his head. “Most of it is impressions.” And fap material. Couldn’t forget his screwed up priorities. Not that he said that aloud. “But I know he would help us.”

Memnon shifted his weight, head tilted to the side. “I could sell you all the information he’s got. Make a fair deal of it, too. He’s in the wind. I know how to find him but… why would you _want_ to? You know he was a General, right? His job was conquering. He was _good_ at it. He’s not got as much blood on his hands as Zarkon but that’s ‘cause he’s not been at it for a good ten thousand years.” Memnon looked honestly confused. “You don’t even remember him. You people- you’re innocent. You’re gentle. Why would want to find a monster like him?”

 _There is something very strange here._ “He’s got my cub.” 

Memnon opened his mouth, then shut it again, and nodded. “Of course.” He exhaled, and the tenseness on his face faded away. “Of course. Excuse me. I think I shall retire for the night.”

He passed Pidge, who had been trying to sneak out. She put on a cheesy smile. “Pardon.” 

“Well. That didn’t go well,” said Hunk. They were staring at the door well after the alien had left the room. 

“No.” Shiro felt his heart plunge into his belly, and he didn’t know why. “No. It didn’t.”

 

To be continued


	13. Chapter 13

_“He’s huge,” Thace muttered, looking down at his newest son. Unimpressed, Akira glared up at his sire with those dark human eyes, bottom lip stuck out in disapproval. Thace cracked a smile, brushing his hands over Akira’s forehead and nose, and outright chuckling when he was answered with Akira’s crackling buzz of a purr._

_“He definitely felt that way coming out,” Shiro answered. He looked better, three days after the birthing. His face was no longer pale, even if he did still stink of exhaustion and pain, but also contentment. He was curled up in a nest blankets in the natural light and fresh air on Thace’s bed, smiling slightly as he watched Thace with their whelp. “But, I don’t think he could more than three kilos, so he’s a bit puny by human standards. But he might just be a bit under baked. That was_ definitely _shorter than a human pregnancy.”_

_Thace’s ears flickered back and forth at that. “Makes sense. He wasn’t sharing space.” He sat down beside Shiro. “There were seven others in my litter. Eight total. My sire said we were runts.” Shiro watched Thace tuck Akira up to his chest as he dozed, before leaning on to Thace’s shoulder. Thace started purring in response. “Zace’s litter was small. Only three. The second litter was bigger, but none survived. Mayth’s litter was small, too. Only four.”_

_He realized that Shiro had gone from indulgent to horrified in two ticks. “What… what happened-“_

_Thace was quiet for a moment. “I told you, didn’t I? Most of our whelps are stillborn,” he said, voice rough. Didn’t stop him from mourning them, though. He had wanted his lost sons, and the one lone daughter of his second litter. He looked down at Akira, savoring his warmth and weight. “Some litters don’t make it that far.”_

_Shiro’s eyes took on a glassy sheen as he got to his knees, pulling them both close, burying his face in Thace’s neck. “Goddammit, Thace,” he muttered, sniffling loudly. “I want more of your cubs, you know.” He shuddered, pulling back to nip at Thace’s chin. Thace turned it into a kiss. “Give me some time.”_

_Thace stopped purring. He exhaled. “I’ve got you. And Akira. If I can protect you both, that will be enough.”_

_Shiro relaxed, easing back into the blankets in segments, careful not to overbalance with one arm. “Honestly, Thace.” His fingers twiddled the blankets, cheeks turning a bit red. “Being pregnant was actually kinda-“_

_They were interrupted by a loud, repetitive beeping. Akira answered by waking up and squawking in displeasure._

_“Just a moment-“ Shiro said, yanking open his robe to expose his chest. “Gimme Aki-kun. You handle the com. He’s going to get hungry again soon anyways.”_

_Thace nodded, getting to his feet. “I’ll get you something on my way back.”_

_He lingered at the door, just watching Shiro hold their son, his face peaceful._

_He was happy, despite this weird purgatory they were in. Thace didn’t deserve this; he knew that. He had betrayed his son’s confidence to do it. On top of that, if Zarkon realized_ exactly _what Mayth had known…_

_He went to answer the com._

~*~*~*~*~*~

Pidge tried to get a device into Memnon’s room.

It didn’t go as planned. Ten minutes after she left, Shiro and Hunk saw Pidge had streak back into the lounge, muttering to herself. 

“Teeth,” was her only answer. 

In the end, it was the mice who had managed to sneak in and observe their guest, but their observations were not exactly precise. Just that they had seen Memnon start limping and could smell blood under the robes. They had seen him sit beside the footlocker and tell it a story.

Shiro had inhaled, sharply, drawing the attention of both Hunk and Pidge-

Only for the revelation, whatever it was, to slip from his mind like wet soap. 

The next morning arrived, with everyone trooping down to breakfast. Shiro had gotten there early, unable to sleep after that almost-epiphany. A gaping nothing sat in his mind.

The metal fingers of his right hand tapped along the table as he waited for their guest to arrive. First Hunk arrived; he suggested something they could use to make hot cakes. Shiro helped out. Pidge came in a few moments later, still half asleep. She went to her place at the table and dozed off again. 

Next came in Keith and Lance, who were obviously trying very carefully to not appear as if they had come in together. Neither appeared to notice that they had somehow swapped shirts. Shiro kept his frown off his face; he was happy for them but he needed to make sure that they weren’t taking unnecessary risks. Lance getting pregnant wasn’t something they could afford right now.

The ghost of remembered flutterings inside him made Shiro stop, eyes prickling. His memories of actually being pregnant were dim but he wanted it back. To feel like that again. _You’re a damn hypocrite, Takashi._

He glanced up in time to see Memnon had arrived, standing in the door of the lounge- and was staring at him. Or rather, staring at his left hand, which had started stroking his belly.

Shiro plastered a smile on his face before gesturing for the alien to come inside. Memnon did so, nodding to Lance and Hunk as he passed, who smiled and waved. Keith called to him, offering another sparring match. Lance enthusiastically endorsed the idea, while Hunk rolled his eyes.

Hunk’s latest food experiment turned out well, as per usual. The hot cakes were pasty, resembling very dry _anko_ more than a cake, and the syrup tasted vaguely like the time he had accidentally eaten a geranium as a kid, if sweeter. They still hadn’t found a good substitute for butter, but at this point, they would take what they could get. 

Memnon had an odd expression on his face when he tried it. __

 _\- You enjoy those? –_  
\- Yeah. It’s sweet. –  
\- What’s that? –  


Shiro had to force himself out of the memory this time. “Not to your liking?” Shiro asked. Memnon had managed to eat the weird Altean cuisine just fine.

“Odd texture. I taste some bitter, some salt, but not much else.” Memnon’s forehead wrinkled. 

“Huh.” Thace couldn’t taste sweet things, either. The thought was… Shiro frowned. “Want some food goo? We can do that.”

Memnon shook his head, looking at the plate like an opponent to be tackled. Shiro wanted to chuckle. The expression was so fam-

He frowned again. He didn’t know that face. Or…

“So, why would the geezer have your whelp?” Memnon asked, interrupting his train of thought.

Shiro winced, thought derailed. “He took Akira.” He shrugged, and looked down at his plate. He couldn’t meet Memnon’s eyes. “Don’t misunderstand. He wouldn’t hurt Akira. I know he wouldn’t. But.” He exhaled, and ran a hand through his hair. “I need him back.”

Memnon was very, very still. He took a bite, chewed it and swallowed, expression never changing. “What happened? You two had a breakup?” 

“You’re awfully nosy,” Pidge piped up. She quickly withered when Memnon turned his unblinking gaze on her.

“And you’re a sneaky little turkey.” Memnon reached out to her, and she cringed away. He ruffled her hair. “Now, I ain’t gonna eat you.” He clacked his teeth together. _“Yet.”_

Pidge grimaced, before casting an apologetic look at Shiro… and beat a hasty retreat out of the lounge.

“Your friend snuck into my room,” Memnon explained. “She didn’t realize I was there. I put the fear of _me_ into her. Just a bit.”

Shiro winced again. “About that…”

“Look, I get it. You don’t want something unknown on your ship. But what’s inside is precious to me and its worth all of our lives. It’s not gonna hurt you. So just leave it be.” Memnon didn’t sound particularly angry, but Shiro was happy he wasn’t an Alpha. That was a territorial claim if he ever heard one. 

He decided to let it pass. “Very well.” Bringing up that they had seen them telling stories to it didn’t seem wise at the moment. Nor was that Memnon was hiding an injury. 

That bothered Shiro more than it should have.

The alien nodded. “Fair enough. Now, you gonna answer the question?” He was intent, even as he became more quiet. “Why you don’t have the whelp?”

Shiro bit the inside of his cheek before answering. “I don’t remember. I got Akira’s name back a few weeks ago, and that was only through the help of my friends and the Lions. I think the druids did something, trying to block out the memory. At any rate, I escaped the Galra and went back to Earth.”

Memnon nodded, eyes searching his face. Shiro felt oddly naked. “Why did the druids have you?”

Shiro opened his mouth- __  
\- Cold fingers, brittle, impossibly strong, clutching, clinging, clawing at his arm and shoulders-  
\- Thace, help me! They’re going to take Akira-  
\- Thace walking over, eyes flat, reaching down to lift Akira from his arm-  
\- They aren’t here for him. They’re here for you.-  
“Shiro- _Shiro?”_

_\- Watching Thace, disbelief tasting like metal in his mouth-  
\- ‘I had to make a choice. You or him. I chose Akira.-_

__He was at the house. The big stone one. Thace was watching, face stoic and calm, holding Akira to his chest… then turning his back as the druids stung him, over and over again, with their needle sharp fingers. The cold numbness seeping up from his extremities. None of that mattered- _none of that mattered-  
_

\- Zarkon made me choose.- 

He jerked back to himself.

Everyone was around him. Allura and Coran included. Everyone except for Memnon.

“Shiro, are you okay?” Hunk asked.  
__  
\- I’m sorry -  
His hands were shaking as he shook his head.

~*~*~*~*~

_It was Zarkon. Thace stared. Zarkon should not have been directly involved in his recall to service. That meant… He fought to keep his face and fur smooth as panic clawed as his belly._

“I’ve been informed that your whelp has arrived,” _Zarkon said over the com. Oddly, he sounded sincere._ “Congratulations. Your bloodline has a very old legacy.” _As if he hadn’t had a hand in destroying it._

_“You are kind, sire.”_

“However, you have been quite slow in cracking the encryption on your son’s thought-box. I think you should eliminate some of your distractions.” _The Emperor’s expression did not change. Thace struggled to do the same._ “You seem very taken with your pet, but, if I recall correctly, new whelps absorb quite a lot of attention. Which would you like to send to the druids?” _His tone conveyed a choice between two specials on a menu. His_ words _tore Thace’s soul apart._

 _He could do_ nothing. _He could not allow himself to twitch, to_ breathe _heavily. This moon was in a system that had been the heart of the Galra Empire since its foundation and the entire system was heavily patrolled. Zarkon could have the drones guarding them shoot to kill immediately. He could order the orbiting battlements to fire on the surface, choking out the life of the entire biosphere. He had seen it happen. Zarkon would brook no disobedience. He wouldn’t allow even the appearance of it. The entire planet- Thace’s childhood home, along with his mate and child- was his hostage._

 _He could hear Sendak in the back of his mind, jeering as his boys were killed._ “Why do you care? You can always make more.” __

_He couldn’t do it. But if he didn’t-_

_“Sh- the Champion,” he said. Somehow his voice didn’t waver or crack. “He would be,” he tried not to choke on his words. “More useful to them. The whelp would not be useful for years.”_

__“I see,” _Zarkon said, a pleased smile crawling up the sides of his face._ “The druids will come for him in a day. Say your goodbyes, Thace. Afterwards you will be recalled to military service. Tell military intelligence when you have recovered more from the thought-box. We may be able to arrange a… conjugal visit with your pet.” __

_He cut out._

_Thace started shaking. His knees buckled, dropping him to the floor in the com room._

_He should tell Shiro what was to come. Allow him to prepare, to say goodbye. But Shiro would fight. In his mind’s eye, he would see Shiro allowing himself to be cut down by the guards before they took him. The guards which would immediately try to kill Akira, stomping his little body into flagstones. He couldn’t save anyone if they were dead._

_Somehow he collected himself enough to leave, to find a waste unit and vomit._

_Somehow he fixed a pleasant expression on his face. Somehow he put together a tray of food and drink for the two of them and carried it up to Shiro and Akira, holding himself together while Shiro asked him what it was about._

_Somehow he lied to Shiro._

_He had kept information from Shiro in the past; he had never told Shiro about feeding the information in the thought-box to the Resistance. He had never told him that he was drawing out the time it took to decrypt the thought-box. Shiro didn’t even know that he had managed to_ contact _the Resistance._

_They would try to search his mind. That was a given. But Shiro’s will was strong; he had a stubborn tenacity that Thace loved. Akira would have been helpless, formed into the druids’ creature in a matter of hours. Shiro would last longer. He might survive until he was rescued._

_He had once told Shiro that he could not be more damned. He was wrong._

~*~*~*~*~*~

Grounding himself worked. Sometimes. 

He started with what he saw. His team, the couches in the lounge. No Memnon. Green, red, blue, yellow, pink, orange. 

Sounds: Hunk and Pidge whispering to each other. The rustle of the mice running over the table. Keith absently rubbing Lance’s back while Lance wiped his eyes. Coran saying something, offering a cup.

The cup was hot. It smelled like vinegar and basil. Not nunvil then. He took a deep breath; protective pheromones laced the air. He recognized most of them coming off of Keith but everyone…

Cat fur. He was sure he smelled cat fur and incense. He _knew_ that smell. He knew the voice that had been speaking to him earlier. He knew it, _just on the tip of his tongue-_

He nodded to everyone, forcing his face into something pleasant. Pretending everything was fine. He could manage. It took some time, but he got them to back away. He drank the… whatever it was… and kept smiling.

Zarkon had made Thace choose. At least he knew, now. Had made him choose, and Thace had chosen their son.

He got up, went to the shower in his room. Took long, deep breathes. Thace had chosen to protect their son. Shiro… Shiro would have done the same. It didn’t make it easier. He sat under the hot water, letting it turn his skin red, keeping him in the present without drifting away again. How long he sat there, he didn’t know. Eventually the water timer cut off, leaving him to sit in the cold, recycled air of the Castle ship. 

Thace had helped him escape. But he hadn’t given back Akira. ( _A small piece of himself said that wouldn’t have made sense anyways- Shiro had just tried to kill them both_ ) He couldn’t quite get himself grounded again, half in a fog as he stood under the bathroom drier, hot air blowing off the wet. 

He was only dimly aware of stumbling, naked, back into his room.

He jumped out of his skin when he saw Memnon sitting on his bed, footlocker at his feet.

The alien tilted his head, and Shiro stared at him. “What the hell are you doing here?” he yelled, heart recovering from having stopped, only to race ahead. “This is my room-“

Memnon threw a robe at him. Shiro scrambled to put it on; it stuck to his wet skin. 

The friendly air the alien affected earlier was gone. In its place was someone who seemed broken, defeated. His entire carriage suggested he was going to the gallows, and it frankly baffled the hell out of Shiro. 

“I’m sorry, Shiro.” That annoying accent was nearly gone; Shiro shivered at his voice. “I hurt you today. Didn’t want to do that.”

Shiro took a long, deep breath. “I’ve been having flashbacks since I escaped. I should have told you to back off.”

“I shouldn’t have pushed. But I wanted to know what you remembered, so I could make a choice.” He looked away, voice going hoarse. “The old bastard left something for you. He told me to give it to you when I thought the time was right.” He stood, before kneeling beside the footlocker. “I don’t think you’re gonna find Thace. He doesn’t want to be found. I kinda think the old bastard hurt you enough already.” 

“What-“ he started, the words not making any sense, but Memnon had already passed his hand over the lock on the footlocker. He heard the hiss of vacuum as gases equalized, and a small coo.

Shiro sat down on his bed with a thump. His legs refused to hold him. Memnon didn’t meet his eyes, gently lifting a small bundle out of the footlocker-slash-cryopod. It was wrapped in a deep purple, patterned blanket. The alien bounced the bundle once, twice, patting it on the back. Then, like it was tearing a piece out of himself, he knelt in front of Shiro and put the bundle in his arms.

It was Akira. Of course it was Akira. The cub’s face was screwed up in fierce determination to continue sleeping, one mitten-covered hand shoved into his mouth. His little nose still looked like Shiro’s mother’s, with Thace’s ears on the sides of his head. In fact, he didn’t look like he had aged more than a few weeks since Shiro had seen him in Thace’s quarters.

His heart stopped. His lungs refused to draw air. All he could do was stare into that perfect, beautiful little face and smile and let the tears fall and sob and laugh in sheer joy _oh my beautiful, beautiful boy you’re here-_

There was purring. He knew the purring. Akira was a little buzzer against his chest, high pitched and squeaky and adorable. The other came from in front of him, so deep and low as to almost be below his hearing.

“I’ll leave you alone,” Memnon said, getting to his feet. He hesitated a moment, one hand moving out then back to his side, before turning to leave.

“Don’t you dare, you condescending bastard.”

Memnon stopped. 

Memnon was Thace. Who else could it have been? He hadn’t exactly been _subtle_. He hadn’t been truly trying to hide. “Why the hell did you do this- this masquerade? I know it’s you.” His eyes were so blurry with tears he really couldn’t see… but he knew. He knew how Thace moved, how he smelled, the sound of his voice. Some part of him had known the entire time, obscured by the black veil. 

Thace’s shoulders slumped, but he didn’t turn around. “The last time I saw you, you had completely forgotten me.” He shrugged a shoulder, still not turning around. “I didn’t exist in your mind. Neither did Akira.” He sighed. “It was just, I suppose. I let them take you without a fight.”

“You did it to save Akira.”

“Yes.”

“You should have told me.”

“Yes.”

“You really are a condescending bastard.” Shiro said, burying his nose in Akira’s little cap, breathing in his scent, savoring his weight in his arms. “I would have agreed with you.”

“No you wouldn’t.” This time Thace did turn around. “You would have fought.” He pressed his fingers to over his ears, and whatever was altering his appearance winked out. What was left was a very tired Galra, body borne down by grief. He had a face that Shiro knew as well as his own: lines under his eyes, his cheeks, with a mane over his square jawline. He knew Thace. He had always known Thace. He was one of the most beautiful things Shiro had ever seen.

“You would have fought, and died, and Akira and I would have followed you. If you had made any move to escape or resist, he would have you killed, and Akira would have followed,” Thace croaked. 

“You can’t know that.”

“I’ve seen it before.”

“Why are we even arguing?” Shiro asked, trying to wipe the mess off his face and hold on to Akira at the same time. “Because if you even think about telling me some bullshit about not being _worthy_ then-“

Thace knelt again, just out of arms reach, offering him a towel. Shiro took it, cleaning the snot and tears away. “Your memories were gone, and I had hurt you so much. You deserved a chance to live your life without me.”

Shiro choked on a laugh. “God, Thace. I couldn’t remember you, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t _miss_ you.”

Thace grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled Shiro into his lap, wrapping his arms tight around both Shiro and Akira. The big Galra was shivering, his entire body trembling with the force of his purr, almost loud enough to make the floor vibrate. He rubbed their faces together, lips brushing, nipping at his chin. 

It had been too long. Shiro hadn’t been held like this in too long. So he cried, let himself keep crying as Thace squeezed like he would never, ever let go.

Akira protested, just a little.

Shiro didn’t.

 

To be continued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus we have caught up to what I have written thus far. Expect further chapters to take longer to be posted, though I hope to still continue posting regularly until this fic is finished.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is later than I expected. It is sappy. Lots and lots of fluff. I hope you like it. 
> 
> Also, content warning for allusions to suicide.

Thace had chosen to conceal his identity for three reasons. 

The first was to make sure the person he was contacting really was Shiro. That went without saying.

The second was safety. Shiro had been spelled by the druids to kill him, to kill Akira. That spell could have lingered.

But the last was because… he was afraid.

Shiro hadn’t known him once the spell had broken. He hadn’t recognized their whelp. His heart had splintered to fragments at that moment, because Shiro had promised to remember him. But Thace didn’t deserve it. Not after giving Shiro to the druids.

On top of that, Shiro was _free_ then, Shiro had… lost himself. It happened almost every time Thace tried to push, just a little. To see what he remembered. Suddenly it didn’t matter if Shiro’s memories were there or not; just asking had hurt him. He couldn’t keep doing that. 

So Thace had injected the last of his pain killers and had taken Akira to Shiro, fulling intent on leaving Akira and walking out of their lives. They would be fine. He would leave, and… that was okay. They were alive, and… 

He was lying to himself. But right now, his life didn’t really matter all that much. Even the information he had was on his own thought box, with the key being something Shiro would likely remember. They would be fine. 

When the moment arrived, Thace had no idea what would happen when he put Akira in Shiro’s arms. 

He couldn’t bring himself to regret the decision to give Akira back to his dam. Shiro’s joy had been a balm; it made the knowledge that he would probably never see his whelp again bearable.

Then Shiro had told him to stay. That he _missed_ him.

Thace hadn’t allowed himself to hope for that. He hadn’t expected to get to hold both Shiro and Akira again. 

He couldn’t cry the way Shiro did (and seeing water pour from his eyes had been disconcerting the first time), but his ears twitched, purring as hard as he could, let himself tremble, and stroke his cheeks and chin on Shiro’s face, kiss him- 

He would have been happy to continue this until he died. Just hearing Shiro breathe, Akira coo and purr, and having them heathy and alive…

A pale streak of movement caught his attention out of the corner of his eye, and his hand struck out without thinking-

“Thace- don’t-“

The small thing was green, soft, furry and squeaking. He held it caged in his fingers. It shivered, unharmed but clearly terrified as he brought it to his face.

“What is it?” It reminded him of vermin, or perhaps food. Fast food. Heh. His mind was fuzzier than this thing.

Shiro shifted his arms. “Let me have it.”

“I don’t think it’s safe to have around Akira-“

“It’s sentient, Thace, and it-“

He felt, more than heard, the sound of several bodies slamming into the door of Shiro’s room. The rest of Shiro’s pride, it seemed. “Shiro?” a voice called from the other side. The Altean Princess. “Shiro, my friends are concerned about you.”

Shiro put out his hand. Thace deposited the small creature into it. It promptly hugged Shiro’s thumb and fussed. “I’m fine,” he said, though his voice was strangled with emotion. “I’m better than fine.” He rubbed his cheek on Thace’s chest. Thace lowered his chin to the top of Shiro’s head, closing his eyes as a wave of dizziness made the room tilt. His limbs felt numb.

“Can we come in?” she asked. Shiro shifted in his lap. 

“Thace?” The human was so warm right now. And opening his eyes was too much work. He had taken his last stim this morning. They lost effectiveness after four days of taking them. “Thace, hey. I need to let them in.”

Thace nodded, running his tongue against his teeth to wake up enough to move. The sharp pain almost wasn’t enough. He leaned back, and Shiro stood, but he kissed Thace’s forehead as he got to his feet. “I’ll explain things. Then we can talk.” 

Thace’s eyes closed despite themselves. His arms were still trembling, but this time from a mix of pain and exhaustion as adrenaline failed. He hadn’t slept beyond a doze for almost five days. Around him, he could hear the chatter of Shiro’s friends – he liked them, they were as cute as Shiro- as they gasped in surprise, cooed over Akira, hissed whispers to each other about someone owing the other money. 

Shiro growled at them, before turning back to Thace. He could feel their eyes on him, curious and a bit accusing. They had liked Memnon well enough; Thace wondered if he would be considered a poor replacement. Or they just weren’t happy that he hadn’t been honest with them.

“Hey,” Shiro said, walking over. He knelt in front of Thace, who blinked rapidly at him. He was still holding Akira. “I think you’re about to get the third degree. Uh- a lot of questions.” His smile, which had about split his face, flattened just a bit. If he had proper ears they would have likely gone flat as well. “You okay?”

Thace nodded, as speaking was too much effort, and unlevered himself from the floor in stages. The children stared at him, backing away as he came close.

The smallest, the little queen called Pidge, barely came to his waist. He had to resist the urge to tuck her under his arm. She had come into his room last night and tried to sneak around; he had smiled at her. And kept smiling, showing off all of his teeth. She had backed out very quickly after that. Now her expression was open curiosity at his real face. 

The others were harder for him to classify. The biggest tom, Hunk, was giving both himself and Shiro a gentle, happy smile. He looked genuinely pleased. The next smelled like Shiro; not obviously a queen but… Omega? (Humans! Too complicated!) Lance was fixated on Akira, muttering something about his whelp being _oh so fluffy he was gonna die! So fluffy!_ While the other, Keith, who was so much a tom that he was vaguely surprised he wasn’t spraying. Good sword fighter. Good technique. Cute tiny angry tom. Reminded him of himself at that age. Keith was watching Lance watch Akira with something like horror on his face. Must be too young to want whelps. Wise of him, not to want them so young. 

The two Alteans allowed him to leave the room, but neither were backing away. The Princess had been coolly indifferent to Memnon, while Coran had popped around like a sand-eel licking the air for insects. He was hard to read.

His head felt stuffed with cobwebs as he walked past them. A weird tugging made him pat the robes he wore, as more of the little squeaky things scrambled through his clothes. He would have jumped but the pain killers muffled everything.

They eventually came to his shoulder; four of them, all sounding highly alarmed. Thace just stared as they turned to the Princess, who inhaled sharply.

“Hey-“ Shiro crossed his line of sight and he remembered being asked a question. “Are you okay?”

He tilted his head, considering how to answer. He shook his head. Then his knees gave out.

~*~*~*~*~

Shiro hadn’t even noticed that something was wrong. He had been… too happy. Enjoying that his family was back together. Too caught up in smiling that when Thace fell, it stayed plastered there for a tick, unmoving as his mind refused to accept what had happened.

He squeezed Akira, who awoke with a squawk, and everyone around him erupted into action. “Thace- Big Guy-”

“My friends smelled blood,” Allura said, as she rushed forward, both she and Shiro kneeling beside the fallen Galra. He felt a tap on his shoulder, and Lance put his hands out- and with some reluctance he deposited Akira into them. Lance cupped the cub’s head and patted his back to sooth him like an expert. 

Allura tore open Thace’s robe. Underneath was a nondescript suit of armor. Parts of the back were slag, melted, crumpled and shattered in places. “Getting this off may be difficult,” Allura said quietly. “This looks like it was done by a weapon, and if it melted, it could be stuck to his skin.”

“Why didn’t he say anything when he came on board?” Hunk asked, as Shiro checked for his pulse (a little lower on the neck than where it would be on a human) and found it was fast and shallow. That was all wrong; it should have been strong and slow. He remembered how it felt, his ear against Thace’s chest and-

“I don’t know,” Shiro said. He looked up at Coran. “Prep the infirmary?” he asked, and the Altean nodded before running off. Together, he and Allura managed to haul him upwards. Thace wasn’t able to walk, but between the two of them, Shiro and Allura were able to haul the unconscious Galra out to their destination, with the rest of the team trailing behind. “We were talking and- I think he- goddamn it you furry bastard-“ his voice broke. “He sounded like he wasn’t going to tell me. Who he was. If he thought I didn’t wa-“ he stopped, swallowing down a sob. “If he thought I didn’t want him back.”

There was silence, and Shiro was grateful. If someone had tried to be sensible at that moment, he might have killed them or started crying and been unable to stop.

It took almost ten minutes for them to get the big Galra to the infirmary, even with Allura and Shiro working together. It took another ten minutes for them to get the undamaged portions of Thace’s armor off. He made motions towards returning to consciousness, but he also tried to stop breathing. Shiro kept it together, but… he wasn’t sure how.

It was going to take the surgical bots a few hours to remove the melted ceramics and other shrapnel embedded in his back. 

Coran’s face was sober as he looked at the screen from the medical computers. “Well. I’m fairly impressed that he was able to stay standing as long as he did. Your friend’s back is a mess. Looks like he took damage from a ship-grade weapon. He’s also been abusing stimulants and anesthetics.” He pointed at the back of Thace’s right hand, which was covered in lumpy knobs. “Got some swelling around the injection sites. He probably passed out because he had developed a tolerance to both and took too large of a dose earlier.” Shiro winced, crossing his arms. “There was a bacterial infection starting to set in, but the surgical bots will be able to handle that. A day in the cryopod should sort out the rest. And then. We’ll have a Galra on board.” He twiddled his fingers and looked away. “That’s… wonderful.” His smile was fixed, before he took a look at Shiro. “He’ll be okay. Why don’t you all go? It’s been awhile since there has been a baby on board the Castle!”

Shiro nodded, but he stayed still while everyone else filed out. Lance walked over with Akira- Shiro waved him away and tilted his head towards the door. “Need to talk to Coran for a bit. Can you take care of him for a while longer, please?”

Lance nodded. Keith hovered over his shoulder as they left the infirmary.

Two years ago Shiro had been on board the _Orpheus_ , heading to Kerberos. His implant had been intact, his body the same it had been for most of his life. He hadn’t been a parent before and had frankly never considered it an option. But despite his lost memories, or his worry about Akira’s sire, he did know something important. Cubs needed milk.

When everyone was gone, he turned to Coran, feeling his face color despite himself.

“Coran… you dried me out, remember? That first night in the Castle?” he said, a little bit shyly. He had been horrified, when he first discovered the changes that had happened to his body. Having shifted to Omega, obviously post-pregnancy, and a prosthetic limb? Without the context for those changes… Now, though. He had some of it back. He had gone from mind-numbing fear to acceptance.

And if his mate was there… he might even embrace it. 

“Akira’s going to need to be fed, soon. Is there any way to turn the plumbing back on?”

~*~*~*~

Waking up felt like he was fighting his way out from underneath a lead blanket, limbs slow and unresponsive, mind filled with machine lubricant. The first thing he was aware of was being face down on a bench, looking down at a dun-colored floor.

Thace blinked slowly, trying to remember what had happened, and what was going on.

“Huh. You woke up faster than I would have thought,” a voice called, and Thace went blank as he tried to remember the speaker. Orange hair, weird mane, pointed ears. Almost human, but he would never have confused Shiro for one of these… Ah. Coran, the older Altean. “Galra were always tougher than we gave them credit for,” he said, wistfully.

Thace grunted. Seemed he wasn’t going to get any answers, so he tried craning his neck around to see where he was. It smelled like chemicals and filtered, sterile air. He was definitely on a ship; odds were he was still on the Castle of Lions. His back was numb, limbs heavy. He was coming out of anesthetic. 

He’d passed out in front of everyone. Damn.

“Right. Wanted to talk to you for some ticks before I told Shiro you were awake,” Coran went on, and Thace focused his fuzzy attention back on him. “Just wanted to make sure of something. Did you _know_ you had taken enough pain killers to down a three-horned Ovinnikian thresher? Or was it because you had been so burned out on stims it was a miracle you could speak your own language, let alone that bastardized old Galran?”

Thace’s ears pinned back. That was _not_ what he had been speaking. Damned effete Altean. “My priority was getting my whelp to safety. Self-preservation came second to that.” He grimaced, trying to prop himself up on his forearms. 

Coran eyeballed him, crossed his arms and leaned against Thace’s bed. “Y’know, first night after Shiro and the rest of the humans got here? I found him in a state. He was having PTSD attack and still lactating.” 

Thace looked away, talons clenching down on the bench. 

“He was terrified. He couldn’t remember anything. We both assumed the worst.” Coran exhaled. “Poor man screamed for… far too long.”

“If you are trying to convince that I should _not_ have overdosed on pain killers, you are failing.”

Coran jabbed him with some kind of probe, and Thace hissed as it stung. “Why didn’t you go with him?”

“That was not possible,” Thace said heavily. He touched his neck; Shiro’s fist had burned him during the fight and the fur had grown back backwards. “If I had gone with him they would have followed us to Earth. So I stayed to misdirect any pursuit.”

Coran nodded, letting out a deep sigh. “He’s gotten better as bits of his memory returned. I think, knowing that someone cared for him helped. Without that support, he would have been much, much worse off.” He turned his glare to Thace. “If you had pulled this stunt a few months ago, before Shiro had a name or even a species for you? Fine. I get it. Asking someone who doesn’t remember you for the same relationship from before would be cruel. But he does remember _something_. And you owe it to yourselves to figure that out.”

Thace tilted his head to the side. 

“Not that I can exactly _approve_ of your relationship,” Coran said, tugging on his mustache. “The age difference alone is abominable. A mature tom really _shouldn’t_ be tupping a young queen like him. Humans, I think they have only a fraction of your lifespan. But he loves you. Doesn’t remember everything yet, but he loves you.” 

Thace winced, and just focused on breathing. “And what will you do now?”

“See if they’re ready to see you. Then we’ll stuff you in the cryopod. Should get you back to evil in a day.”

~*~*~*~*~

The memories of the first time Shiro had put Akira to his breast were fuzzy, like many others. Thace had helped him through it. For a male who screamed Alpha to his senses, he knew a surprising amount of such things.

“You help your queens with this, too?”

He had gotten used to that _look_ on Thace’s face. The one that said he had stumbled on one of the differences between their species again, with potentially embarrassing results. (But he had to admit, he liked the face-rubbing. Thace’s blissed out expression at a good chin-rub was _priceless._ )

“Most of the time, queens are encouraged to go back into heat as soon as their bodies are recovered.” Thace sounded regretful. “Live whelps are taken away after a few days. On top of that, given our litter sizes, the queens don’t have enough teats.”

Shiro blinked. “You don’t nurse longer than a few days?”

Thace rubbed the back of his neck, ears flattening out in more embarrassment. “Zace wasn’t weaned until he was walking. Mayth was a little younger but…”

Shiro’s eyes went round. “Oh. Um.”

“We have large litters, Shiro. There was a time when most survived. Queens can’t handle all of them alone.”

_“Oh.”_

In the present, Shiro had found that doing this alone was harder than he had thought. On top of that, he had an audience.

Oh, he had gone back to his room. But everyone had taken that as permission to come in and _watch._

“Uh, guys?”

They had trickled in, a few at time. First Lance had come in, bringing in water and food goo, saying that he might need it. He sheepishly admitted helping with his younger siblings, that his mothers had insisted he watch and learn how take care of kids when he shifted to Omega. Keith had come in after that. He had been very… bewildered, by how Lance was acting. He had stopped and stared at Shiro and Akira in a way that left him feeling very, very strange.

Allura had joined them, carrying in something that looked like a crib. Pidge followed, holding a piece of tech that she enthusiastically declared to be a space-baby-monitor.

“So, you think all baby Galra look that cute?” Hunk had asked, when he eventually came in. They all had to peer at Akira’s serious face. All of them, on his bed. Hovering over his shoulder. Not that he blamed them. Akira was cutest baby in the known universe. “Or is it because he’s a hybrid? I mean, you know, like a liger? Will he just keep growing? Thace is pretty big.”

“I have no idea.” Somehow Shiro had managed to maneuver his robe (god he was still in a robe. Today was just fucking bizarre) to cover himself because he was getting uncomfortable from the scrutiny.

“Most Galra half-breeds stay within Galra norms, but quarter breeds and further out take after their mothers,” a voice called, and Coran walked in. “Altean-Galra halfbreeds could change their appearance, though, like a pure Altean.”

Allura wrinkled her nose but said nothing. 

“Our patient is up and pretty lucid, if you want to talk to him before he goes into cryo,” Coran said. 

Shiro pulled a face. His milk hadn’t let down until Akira had started fussing from hunger, barely twenty minutes ago. Getting Akira latched on had been difficult, but his cub was pretty good at keeping his mouth wide. His tiny hands were kneading on Shiro’s chest. 

“Ah, Akira’s eating!” Hunk protested. All around him, his audience complained. “They just got started.”

“But I’m going to try to get up,” Shiro said pointedly to him. He was the head of Voltron. He had fought in the arena. He could manage having a cub-

Everyone made sounds of protests; he nearly knocked them off the bed by accident. Akira came off his chest, crying out. The sound was heartbreaking somehow and he just –

“Move.”

Shiro didn’t hear the words at first. He did hear Coran titter, say something about ‘stubborn, aren’t you?’ as his friends went quiet one after another. He didn’t pay attention, trying to calm Akira-

-who went silent as he felt a vibration go through air. 

He looked up. Thace looked down at him, eyes unfocused, swaying on his feet, but there. 

The rest of team Voltron quickly scattered, getting out of the way so Thace could sit down. It didn’t stop them from hovering, with Hunk looking teary-eyed while Pidge had her latest gizmo in her hands. Lance was muttering something in Keith’s ear. Keith looked… uneasy.

Allura, though, looked like she might start a fight.

“Should you be up?” Shiro asked, trying not to sound too desperate as Akira made a small, unhappy sound and _why did it make him want to cry_. “You were hurt-“

Thace shook his head. Shiro sighed as Thace took Akira, bringing him to his face to stroke his forehead and jaw.

“Ahhhhhh.” Hunk had hearts in his eyes. Lance hissed something about knitting. 

“I think we should probably give them some time,” Coran interjected, gesturing for everyone to leave. “Isn’t that right, Allura?”

She looked at Shiro, and at Thace. Pidge tapped her on the arm and gestured with her chin towards the door, turning to leave and dropped her gizmo in the crib. Allura nodded and left with the rest.

“Just relax and it won’t hurt so much,” Thace said. Stopped. Exhaled. “That came out wrong. Akira’s a pretty good eater-“ Their cub looked content, his own purr was a counterpoint to the deep sound coming from Thace, who continued to pet his forehead and nose. 

“Had you been… feeding him, before?” Shiro asked. 

Thace chirped in surprise, then nodded. “You remember? I had to stop, though, after I helped you escape.” At Shiro’s look, he elaborated. “I faked Akira’s death. The druids wanted you to kill us both. So I let them think that you had succeeded with Akira but I had fought you off, but then you ran away. I put Akira into a cryopod and smuggled him off to Ix Chel while I kept them distracted with new revelations on Voltron.” He smiled, a bit sadly. “Being around Akira should get me to start producing again, if you want me to do it.”

Shiro blinked his eyes, looking down at Akira, who had calmed down but was making sucking motions with his mouth, fingers flexing. “I… Not… we could take turns..?”

Thace nodded, offering Akira back to Shiro. 

“I don’t remember everything. It’s more images, flashes. They’re not quite linear.” Shiro put Akira to his breast, waiting for him to latch on. To his relief, it only took a moment. It hurt, before fading into something soothing. “But I do remember some things.” Then he frowned, and gave Thace a look. “When we first met, were you flirting with me?”

Thace stared. “Flirting..?”

“I didn’t have your face. But I do remember you flipping me over and you’re between my legs and,” he couldn’t help blushing as he said it. Somehow the absurdity of that moment never ceased. This Galra, not trying to kill him, grappling with him, and looking down at him with amusement. _Do all of your kind change color like that?_

Thace’s ears twitched. “Hm. _That’s_ what stuck in your mind about our first meeting?”

Shiro’s ears became jealous of his cheeks, burning hot along with them. “It’s not the whole thing. And most of what I remember wasn’t stuff I would tell a stranger.” He sighed, as Thace ran his fingers through Shiro’s hair, before draping himself over Shiro’s back, and wrapped his arms around both Shiro and Akira again. “I remembered your scent, how you sounded, your hands when you touched me.” And fuck he shouldn’t be feeling so hot just remembering that. “How you taste.” He tilted his face up, and Thace answered with a kiss. “I sure as hell wasn’t going to tell Memnon, _with the other Paladins there_ , that I remembered your knot being bigger than my fist.”

Thace’s chuckle made chills go down Shiro’s back as he nipped Shiro’s ear. Nursing Akira should have made this awkward as hell, but it just seemed like… Mmm. Sexy bastard. The Omega part of his brain was telling him good, good _good._ (Shiro’s brain had very, very strange priorities.)

“You’re cruel, teasing me like this, when I can’t _do_ anything about it,” Thace muttered. He sounded exhausted, but he didn’t seem inclined to move. “Where do we go from here?”

“Hm?” It took Shiro’s brain’s a moment to shift gears. “What do you mean?”

“You have a place on this team. You’re the head of Voltron.” The purr turned, somehow, fierce, as Thace buried his nose in Shiro’s hair. “Your place is here. But why would you even want an old broken toy soldier like me?”

That cleared out the Omega brain fast enough. “If I’m practical, it’s because you have information we need. You know the Empire. I remember you talking about how things worked, often enough. You could give us a lot of insight into what’s changed in the past ten thousand years.” He clenched his metal fist, grateful it wasn’t directly under Akira. “And I want you here. Because I love you. And, _General_ , you’re no more broken than I am.”

Thace took Shiro’s metal hand and stroked his thumb over the palm. “When we met, I was dead. My body just hadn’t caught up yet.” He paused, dragging out the words. “You brought me back. Gave me a reason to care, to feel. I was happy. Being with you, even in the arena, was… good. Even if it was Zarkon’s plan,” he muttered the last. “It has no bearing on how I feel. I love you, Shirogane Takashi. I want to be in your life.”

“I want you in mine.” He tilted his face again, this time for a chin-nip. “Do Galra get married?”

“You are complicated. What is marriage?”

“Uh.” Oh boy. This was going to be interesting. “People agree to live together for mating purposes, and there is a certain amount of expectation about monogamy unless you agree to it beforehand. If you have people who are fertile together, you often get offspring. If not, they have an easier time adopting children.”

Thace’s face cleared. “Ah. We aren’t like that already?”

Shiro blanked. Then he looked down at Akira. And remembered that Thace had brought Shiro into his old home. They had been partners and lovers and friends. They had a cub. He had a point.

“Humans usually turn it into a legal contract and have a ceremony so their friends and family can wish them well,” Shiro went on. 

“Would that make you happy?”

Shiro looked down at Akira, and nodded. 

“Then how could I say no?”

~*~*~*~*~

It took another hour for Akira to finish eating, and Shiro noticed that Thace’s silence wasn’t just peaceful. Together they got off the bed, Shiro propping up Thace and holding Akira at the same time, to head back to the infirmary.

Both of them had forgotten the small gizmo Pidge had dropped in the crib. 

So they were _completely_ thrown off guard when everyone erupted into cheers when they arrived.

To be concluded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next one should be the last, folks.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Notes for: knotting, lactation kink, slight come inflation, fluff, attempted foreshadowing of the sequel.

Shiro was grateful.

He had friends who brought him food. Friends who brought him water. Friends who got worried after the first two feedings (Akira needed to nurse about every two hours) and Shiro had just sat down in front of them in the infirmary to change Akira’s diaper. (Thankfully there had been some in Thace’s luggage that were compatible with the Castle’s clothing recyclers) Friends who followed him into the bathroom to awkwardly offer to hold Akira while he did his own business.

Friends who were being a pain in the ass about the whole thing.

“Listen, we know you’re concerned, but he’ll come out extra crispy, just like I did,” Lance had told him. 

Shiro was sitting at the base of the cryopod, holding Akira and humming a lullaby. “I know.”

“We’re getting worried,” Hunk had said.

“Don’t. It’s fine. I just don’t want to leave,” Shiro had answered.

“He’s not going to get better faster with you here,” Pidge had pointed out logically. 

“Yes. That’s okay. I don’t mind waiting,” Shiro had answered. 

Keith, to his surprise, didn’t try to get him to leave. Instead he had sat down beside Shiro with a tray of goo and pouches of water. “Want some company?”

Shiro glanced at him. Keith was without Lance, for once, smelling heavily of some kind of soap. “Sure.”

“How’s Akira?”

Shiro rocked the cub, who was comfortably passed out between feedings. “Doing okay. Been trying to sing to him. I don’t remember that many lullabies.” He traced his flesh hand over Akira’s forehead. “I might break out Ai Uta by GReeeeN though.”

A smile flashed over Keith’s face. “He might like that.” He paused. Took a breath and held it. “My dam used to sing it to me.” 

Shiro’s lips quirked in a smile as he leaned against Thace’s pod.

“You’re not going to forget him if you leave,” Keith said after a moment. “He’s right here.”

Shiro shuddered. “What if I do?” he whispered. He looked down at Akira. “I lost his face. I lost my _cub’s_ face. I lost their names. I mean, Thace was here. Obviously _here_ , despite the stupid accent. I should have known him as soon as we met. Part of me did but it just wasn’t loud enough. I leave and… I promised Thace I would remember him.” The memory was dim, dark, hated. Thace had sometimes been callous, brutally efficient, but he had tried to keep Shiro safe, taking the worst on to himself. “He said no one knew him, no one was left who would care.”

“Your memories are coming back?”

Shiro tilted his head. “Some.”

“Okay.” Keith hugged his knees, looking down at the floor in front of them. “Why did you fall in love with him in the first place?”

Shiro opened his mouth. Closed it again. “First time we met?” He exhaled, letting the cold of the floor keep him present, grounded. “He was… He pinned me to the deck and asked me if all of my kind changed color like that.” People had flirted with him before. And this wasn’t even flirting. He hadn’t felt much beyond curiosity in response, either. “Didn’t fight me, not really. He wanted me to kill him. I couldn’t do it. When the crowd got bored they put a _kaiju_ in there with us.”

Keith picked up a pouch of water and handed it to Shiro. He nodded to Keith, and took a sip. “God. I didn’t want to kill him, had no idea what to do with the guy. Sometimes I hated him. He could be such a condescending bastard. But he apparently had decided that me dying was bad. And I was so nervous I babbled like an idiot.” Akira made a little noise. Keith hummed back, scooting close to Shiro and ducking his head like a cub. “It was like sharing a room with a grumpy lion. Or you.” He smiled at Keith. “He’s pretty taciturn but… we did talk. Well, I talked. About everything.” Shiro rubbed the back of his neck. “He listened to my stories about home, Yosakoi, the Garrison, even Earth history. Sometimes he told me stories about places he had been, explored.” Shiro felt his eyes get wet. “His company kept me sane, when things got bad. Made me feel safe, even at the worst of times.” He sniffed, then tried to laugh. “Didn’t hurt that he’s easy on the eyes.”

“You like hairy men?” Keith asked, smirking. “Or just Alphas?”

This time the chuckle was real. “Didn’t have a type before. But he’s big, graceful and smart. But the fur helps. I half-remember being in an archive with him, showing me how to read Galra script. Playing games. Training. I think I loved him before that, but-“ Shiro exhaled. “He’s got a lot of love in him, even if he’s Galra.”

Keith nodded, head on his knees. He looked younger than twenty-two. The smile on his face was charmed and sly at the same time. Then he sighed, but it felt more like a purr. “Thanks for telling me.” He swallowed, looking away. “Shiro. My dam and my sire…”

Shiro blinked, and he reached out without thinking, brushing his thumb over Keith’s face like he was Akira.

Keith flinched, keeping his eyes on the floor. “I’m glad your cub has his back.” Then he looked up at the pod and back. “He’ll still be in there for a while longer, Shiro. It’s okay if you want to go take a shower and a nap. We can watch Akira. If you forget, I can remind you.”

Shiro snorted, and put Akira in Keith’s arms.

He promptly went rigid in surprise, eyes wide and panicked. “What are you-“

“He’s not going to explode.”

“You don’t know that!”

Shiro chuckled again, getting to his feet. “Thanks, Keith.” He stretched. He really was grateful for his friends. 

He turned to leave, barely hearing Keith’s “So the universe didn’t end after all…”

~*~*~*~*~

Thace inhaled as warm air blew in his face, the cryopod opening. Everything was a dull blur at first, as he put his arm out in front of him, tipping forward.

“I got you,” a voice said, and Thace’s hands landed on a pair of a familiar shoulders. He braced himself, hunched over Shiro, nose buried in his short hair, feeling it against his cheek and lips. 

Shiro’s hands, warm and cold, were on his sides, before the metal one reached up to scratch through his mane. He leaned into it. “Glad you’re so sturdy,” he murmured, eyes coming into focus as he straightened. Shiro was smiling at him, and while he looked a little tired he looked well. He reached out with one hand to touch Shiro’s hair… then pulled it back to his chest, a little unsure. 

Shiro took Thace’s hand and put it to his own face. 

“Feeling better?”

“Hmmm.” Shiro kissed his palm, and stepped in to lean against Thace. “Much better now.” Shiro’s warmth felt so good after the bone-deep cold of the pod. And beyond being stiff and sore, his back felt healthy. Shiro’s fingers ran through the fur on Thace’s chest before stepping away. He reached down, grabbing something and handing it Thace, who looked at it. A robe. Well, he was just in long pants. He bowed his head and hissed a bit at the stretch of his back muscles as he put it on. 

“You know, it’s kinda like watching your parents get touchy-feely,” someone said. Thace looked over to see Pidge and the rest of the Paladins, along with the Princess and Coran. The little queen was smiling, but her nose was wrinkled. “You know they’re happy but it’s still kinda…”

“Sweet?” Hunk replied.

“Cute?” Allura offered.

“Embarrassing,” Lance said. Beside him, Keith was covering his eyes.

“I was going to say weird, but I think you covered it.”

He looked down at Shiro, who stepped back and shrugged, getting under his left arm. “Our plan is to continue cohabitating.” Shiro took his hand, which was dangling over his shoulder, and threaded their fingers together. Thace tried not to squeeze. He was… he had to admit, a bit concerned about their reception of this idea. “Does this bother you?” Perhaps it was taboo in human culture?

“No, of course not. But we don’t really know you yet,” Hunk said. “Shiro knew you were gone but not enough to tell us a lot of details. We got to share some of his memories, though.” He was the one currently holding Akira, who yawned to show his feelings on the matter. “So, we don’t think you’re a threat to us. But we would all like to ask you some questions.”

Thace nodded to them. Of course. He followed them out to the lounge, where they arrayed themselves on the other side of the circle from him as a tribunal. Before sitting down, Hunk brought Akira back, offering him first to Shiro, who jerked his thumb to Thace, who sighed in relief to take his whelp. 

He had sent Akira way for his safety, but he had _missed_ him.

Shiro sat down beside him, and it took an act of will for him not to pull the human into his lap, to curl around both of his precious people and just wallow in having them safe and alive and there with him. 

“So, um, Thace.”

Thace looked up. The tribunal of Paladins looked uncomfortable. “We felt that it would be best if Pidge asked first,” the Princess said. She was clutching her knees, eyes wary.

The little queen had a frame on her face, set with transparent lenses, and she was playing with it nervously.

“Right. My family. Where are they?”

He tilted his head to the side. “Your fam-“ He peered at her, eyebrows going up and his ears twitching, before glancing down at Shiro. “Ah. You mentioned that the older tom had another whelp. Katie?”

Pidge nodded. Thace looked down at Akira again. “I don’t have their location. I do know they are well. But, I do have contacts that may be trusted, who will be able to help with the search.”

Pidge’s voice broke. “So you don’t really know.”

“I could only confirm that they were not in immediate danger and have more favor than most slaves, and a quadrant of space. I do know that there is an active Resistance cell in the area and how to contact them.” He shifted his weight, and Shiro put a hand his knee. “Even when I was called back to active service, I was severely restricted in my movements and resources. As it is, it is for the best if you are the ones to approach the Resistance instead of myself. I am not someone they will trust easily.”

“What he means is that he was a high-ranking officer before he was sent to gladiator arena,” Allura said, voice laced in disgust. “And that you don’t get to a high rank in the Galra army without proving your loyalty.”

Thace nodded to her, a bit cautiously. “That is accurate enough.”

Allura’s hands curled into fists. 

“Next question?” Hunk asked, trying to move the conversation on.

Thace tried to keep his focus as the questioning continued. It was like being surrounded by a litter of whelps all wanting his attention at once, and the questions came faster and faster. Some he didn’t know the answer to, others had didn’t want to answer.

“How did Shiro lose his arm?” Keith, the angry young tom (Alpha?) asked him after some time. 

Thace opened his mouth. Closed it again. Looked down to see Shiro looking at him with an expression of open curiosity on his face. “You don’t remember?”

Shiro shook his head. 

Thace pressed his lips together, trying to choose how to frame this, feeling a growl in his chest at the memory. “We had been fighting in an arena. Many drones attacked us to wear us down.” No recognition on Shiro’s face. “Sendak came with them.”

Shiro’s eyebrows went up, eyes widening. 

“Do you want me to continue?” The last thing he wanted was for Shiro to become lost in his memories again.

“You were… not well. So I fought Sendak.” A flush went over Shiro’s cheeks to his ears. “And I knocked him unconscious. The battle was prolonged and I was exhausted. Shiro needed… attention. So when I was… helping him, Sendak attacked.”

“I think I remember,”Shiro whispered. He licked his lips. He smelled… aroused? The scent had been thick and strong in the arena, and his cries of _relief_ at being bred, of feeling Thace’s seed inside him-

-seeing him fall, in two places-

-tackling Sendak and wresting away his sword, using it to chop off the traitor’s arm-

-desperately tearing at the prison smock as a tourniquet, putting pressure on Shiro’s wound and _how can someone so small have so much blood-_

“Big Guy,” Shiro said, getting to his feet before straddling Thace’s lap, fingers scratching along Thace’s jawline. “Hey.”

Thace tried to breathe but it stuck in his chest. “You truly can’t remember?”

Shiro leaned. “Just… leading up to it.” Just mentioning made his ears red. 

Thace closed his eyes. “Hmmm.” He breathed in Shiro’s scent, reminding himself that it was the past. Shiro was with him. It was still one of the worst memories of his life. “I’m sorry I couldn’t stop him.”

Shiro went still. “I remember enough. You had been fighting drones for an hour, you were covered in injuries AND-“ he lowered his voice to nearly inaudible. “you had to deal with me being so far gone in heat that I couldn’t help, and then picked me up and fucked me into a wall,” he muttered, petting Thace’s head. “And this was after seeing me through the shift.” Shiro kissed him, softly, even when Pidge made a gagging sound. “Don’t apologize.”

“I think we should stop for right now,” he heard Keith say. His voice was rough. “We can eat.”

~*~*~*~*~

Shiro watched Thace out of the corner of his eye as he dozed on the sofa after the meal. The cryopods were great at healing, but it took the body’s own energy to do it. So food afterwards was a good idea. So was sleeping.

He cursed that they hadn’t given Thace a break. 

“So, how’s he doing?” Keith asked, with Lance at his side. They were eying the dozing Galra, who had Akira tucked under his chin. They could hear them purring together. 

“Not been on the outside for one of those before,” Shiro admitted. He touched his arm. He didn’t remember the blow itself. But he definitely remembered what had happened before. 

“Yeah. Not sure if I’m relieved or sad that alien brains process trauma in the same way that humans do,” Pidge said. She was fidgeting, and he guessed she wanted to find the Resistance that knew where her family was as soon as possible. He couldn’t blame her. 

“So, um, you remember the arm thing?” Lance asked. Hunk and Keith elbowed him at the same time. “Ouch!”

“Some of it.” Enough to know that Thace had edited the story heavily, probably to spare Shiro. He remembered being barely able to stand after the change, trying to keep himself together so Thace wouldn’t worry. (Not that it worked. For someone who tried to be an aloof soldier, he was a giant mother hen) He remembered asking Thace to keep them from touching him.

Thace kept that promise. The heat had ravaged Shiro’s body, but he had enough adrenaline going to provide back up. But the drones just kept coming. Sendak had make it clear that this wasn’t going to stop until his heat ended or they were dead. 

Whatever this was, it wasn’t about just breeding. They had spaceships, surely they could manage a turkey baster. This was about _submission_. Shiro had defied them; Thace was defying them. He could let Thace keep fighting for him until he died, and Shiro would either wind up dead himself, or, more likely, pregnant by the next stud they sent in. And Thace would have died for nothing. 

The first night of his heat had been hell. Not just because of his discomfort but because Thace had been _right there_. His head had known that pregnancy in this situation was untenable. 

But instincts didn’t actually scream. Instead he had felt cold and miserable, his new pussy achingly empty and slick coating his thighs as he was hyper aware of how Thace smelled, haunted by how good his dick had felt in his hands, in his mouth. And… he had wanted to know what their cubs would look like. Thace’s fur? His eyes? Whose ears? He didn’t know, but not getting the chance to find out made his heart ache. 

So he chose. He would choose to love Thace and keep him alive. 

And the goddamn memory of _finally_ getting Thace’s cock after watching him fight Sendak had his mouth watering even now. 

Lance blinked at him, and then at Thace and back again. Somehow he made a leap that no one else had. “Thace was defending you during your heat?”

Shiro grimaced, then nodded.

“Dude, you smell so turned on I’m surprised you aren’t over there humping him. Your first heat after you shift can really fuck you up.” He shuddered. Keith made a small sound before stepping up to Lance and taking his hand. “And plus. Hell. Look at him. Toss in some puppies and he’s, like, every softcore porn calendar for Omega’s ever made.” Now Keith looked annoyed, and Hunk looked embarrassed. 

Shiro squirmed, crossing his arms. “Not helping, Lance.” Even if every word he spoke was absolutely true. “We need to decide what to do with him-“

“The answer is pretty obvious,” Pidge interrupted. “We go find my brother and father and invite them to your wedding. We find a nice peaceful planet, cobble together a ceremony, and then we kick Zarkon’s ass.”

“We don’t have to allow him into sensitive areas of the ship, but we are hardly going to ask him to leave now,” Allura finally said, coming over. 

“Galra were infamously devoted fathers,” Coran added. “At least they were in our time. Once we appreciated their loyalty to their families and Clans.” He stroked his mustache. “I doubt he will betray us.”

Hunk just shrugged. “He makes you happy.”

Shiro looked down. “I…”

“I trust him,” Keith said. He didn’t elaborate. 

“Okay. Want us to watch the cub for awhile? Because your ovaries are asplode, man,” Lance said. “And you are so overdue for some reunion sex.”

Shiro groaned and buried his face in his hands. “Just… let him wake up. And, um, give us a few hours. Okay?”

~*~*~*~*~*~

Shiro tried to discreetly check the wound on Thace’s back as he continued dozing on the couch in the since-abandoned lounge.

He had every faith that the cryopod would heal it. But he vaguely remembered Thace saying something that if a wound was left too long it could not be fixed completely. 

On top of that, too many injuries would still add up over time. His own scars would ache when he got cold. Thace’s weren’t so obvious, but he knew they were there. 

Thace caught his hand before he could manage to touch his back.

“I wasn’t trying for your belly,” Shiro protested. Thace almost smiled, flicking his ears back and forth. 

He looked better. Thace usually wore a poker face, but there were tells. Tense shoulders and ears, the cords of muscle in his neck and thighs taut and visible. Right now, there was some mild concern in the set of his ears, but none of the rigid control from trying to stop a PTSD episode through sheer force of will. 

Instead the faint almost-smile was crawling up the sides of his face as he tugged, gently, on Shiro’s arm, and Shiro took the invitation to sprawl across his chest, straddling his waist. Akira was still set against Thace’s neck, and his eyes were open, making small cooing noises as he stared at his fists. 

“How’s my two favorite toms?” Shiro asked, folding his hands under his chin, enjoying the soft buzz of Thace’s purr. 

“Akira discovered his fingers.” Thace’s smile kept creeping up his face. “Early, too. He seemed quite impressed with them.” He put his hands on Shiro’s back, talons tracing patterns through the cloth of his vest and shirt, then down further cup his ass. 

“And the Big Guy?”

“Better.” His ears flattened a bit, in embarrassment. “I’m sorry for earlier.” His hands went still. 

“Don’t stop,” Shiro ordered, and Thace’s smile turned into a smirk as he continued kneading. “I want you to tell me when you’re hurt. You aren’t with the Empire now.” He pulled himself up, breathing in Thace’s face as he nipped his chin, held it a second and let go. “Please.”

Thace looked away. “You ask a lot of me.”

Shiro put his head down on Thace’s chest. “Is it?”

“I was a Galra soldier.” Shiro stiffened on Thace’s chest. “I was born and bred to take my sire’s place as an officer in the Galra forces.” He could feel the tension in Thace’s hands and arms, one hand coming up to brush through Shiro’s hair. “Sentiment, affection, pain, grief… Trusting someone enough to show those things. All of them were potential daggers in my back. I will do my best, my Shiro, but that is not something that can happen overnight.”

Shiro exhaled and nodded, sitting up. “I love you.”

Thace blinked, licked his lips. His arms trembled. “I love you too.”

Something almost like grief knotted up in Shiro’s chest. “How many times have you been able to say that?” Shiro asked.

“Counting today? Twice.”

Shiro back stiffened. Then he leaned down, cupping Thace’s face with his palms and kissing him for all he was worth, making Akira croon and Thace gasp as he sat up, holding both Shiro and Akira to his chest.

The kiss went on for some time, until Akira yawned and both pulled back to look at him, a small chuckle forming.

“I want you,” Shiro whispered. “I want to ride you. Or for you to fuck me into a wall. Or me on my hands and knees. So long as it ends with you knotting me,” he hissed, then kissed Thace again. “Do you want to?”

 _“Yes,”_ Thace answered. Together they got to their feet, and hand in hand, they gave Akira to Lance, who had been suspiciously hovering nearby.

The first thing they did after getting back to Shiro’s room was chuck out the monitor. 

Then Shiro opened Thace’s robe, letting his hands travel up and down his chest, gliding over the fur and hard planes of muscle. Thace let the robe fall from his shoulders, reaching to open the collar of Shiro’s vest, before pulling it and his shirt from his belt and over his head. 

Thace paused, and Shiro flushed, but feeling hot at the same time. “You like that? Seeing what you did to me?” he murmured, taking Thace’s hand and putting it to his chest, letting him squeeze. It hadn’t been that long since he had last fed Akira, but he felt himself leak all the same. Thace went to his knees, mouth open to catch the drops.

Should have hurt. Didn’t. Instead Shiro shuddered at the feel of Thace’s tongue and lips teasing out the milk that fed their cub, tasting, and sighing as he came up to find Shiro’s mouth, letting Shiro share the taste. Creamy and sweet. 

“You made me want this,” Shiro said as he pulled back, arms wrapped around Thace’s neck. “Never would have thought about shifting before I met you,” nipped his chin, felt Thace nuzzle his ear. “Wouldn’t have, for-“ he gasped, as Thace cupped his groin, opening his pants and easing them and his underwear to his knees. “For anyone else.”

Thace purred, as his talons reached behind Shiro’s cock and to pussy-lips. “All for me?”

“Yes.” He tried to remember that this was foreplay. Sexy talk. It was all one hundred percent true. He had been okay with the shift with Thace there. “All for you. You put that whelp in me and you’re going to give me more, right?”

Thace’s purr became louder as his fingers slid up inside him easily. “Yes. I want that.”

Oh god fucking Omega brain, making him grind down on those fingers, making him gasp as they hit his g-spot. Kiss him, look at the bulge in the front of his pants with naked need. “Can’t- replace the ones you lost,” he stuttered. His knees buckled when Thace added another finger; if Thace hadn’t been bracing him up he would have collapsed as Thace crooked his fingers, making him moan. “But I want to give you-“

Thace pulled him tight to his chest, Shiro burying his face in his neck as he coaxed out more moans, mews, and finally a shriek as he came, going boneless in Thace’s arms. Clear come darkened Thace’s fur, as he growled possessively. 

He pulled his fingers free of Shiro’s body and licked them clean, the growl only getting deeper. Shiro closed his eyes, catching his breath.

“My beautiful Shiro.” Thace’s hands wandered across his sweating skin. Shiro opened his eyes to see Thace looking at him, his expression a mix of adoration and bemusement. “I do not deserve you.” 

He could feel Thace’s erection between them, huge and heavy, and he wanted it. He just didn’t think he could actually _stand_ at that moment. 

He pants were around his knees, still in his boots as he reached down, fumbling for Thace’s waistband. The Galra chuckled, before sliding Shiro off his lap; Shiro whined in protest as he was laid out on the floor, but scrambled to kick off the rest of his clothes. 

Thace hooked his thumbs in his waistband, dropping the loose pants and shucking them off somewhere to the side. Shiro licked his lips, spreading his legs and reaching up to squeeze his tits again as Thace loomed over him, stroking his cock. There was already a small bulge of a knot forming at the base.

“Please,” he whispered, pulling his knees up, biting his bottom lip. “Thace, please.” He was wet, so damn wet. Empty. Even if he wasn’t in a heat his cunt and womb both felt so _empty_. “Fill me up.”

His lover growled again, and Shiro moaned as more slick welled up at the sound. Thace crawled over him, settling between his thighs and sliding his erection through Shiro’s slick, pressing their cocks together and then back again. Shiro whined in protest, grabbing his back and hooking his legs around Thace’s waist.

Thace finally relented, the pointed tip easing past his outer then his inner lips, the dull spine-like bumps making Shiro’s toes curl as he just kept going. And going. Oh god he had forgotten how _big-_

The stretch was divine, filling up that damn emptiness only to retreat and come back, a bit longer and thicker each time. 

Thace’s was purring, mixed with that possessive growl as he braced himself, hips pulling back to slam forward again, driving Shiro against the deck. Soft kisses, licks and nips went up and down Shiro’s face and neck. His knot hadn’t fully formed yet, the thickness still soft enough to work its way inside-

Shiro yelped in surprise as Thace picked him up, back to a kneeling position, letting Shiro’s body weight drop him fully onto his forming knot, the tip kissing his cervic, stretching the rim of his cunt before the ring of muscles _locked-_

He shouted, fingers digging furrows in Thace’s back as knot fully inflated, painful and sharp and _oh god yes-_

Thace was coming, roaring, his seed flooding Shiro’s pussy and womb. His face open, jaw slack and free of the mask he usually wore in his pleasure. 

And it didn’t stop.

Shiro mewed, rocking a bit, feeling Thace’s come mixed with his slick spurt out of the lock, but most of it stayed inside. The pressure would slow, then pulse back as his cock twitched against Shiro’s g-spot, drawing out Shiro’s orgasm or starting a new one.

He wondered if his eyes would be permanently cross after this.

Somehow, Thace managed to pick Shiro up (even as he kept coming) and get them to the bed. Just shifting position like that was enough to make Shiro come once more, feeling the mess of seed inside him move.

Oh how had he _ever_ forgotten this?

Thace lay on his back, watching Shiro as he rode Thace’s knot. His belly was bulging, just slightly, from the come filling him up, still squeezing Thace’s knot with his pussy. 

Eventually the knot deflated, as Shiro fell forward into Thace’s chest and rolled off into the crook of his arm. Thace put his lips to Shiro’s hair. “Enjoy that?” He sounded hoarse from growling.

Shiro blinked several times- and hey, look, his eyes _could_ uncross- and nodded. “Yes,” he murmured. He flushed as Thace parted his legs without shame, looking at the lake of come and slick gushing from his pussy and soaking the sheets. Beads of milk were still coming from his tits. To his surprise, he saw Thace’s erection slide from its sheath again.

“You really do like looking at your handiwork,” Shiro said. He arched his back and moaned when Thace leaned down to take a long, languorous suck from one tit, then the other. 

“I take pride in a job well done,” he answered, smug and satisfied as he caressed Shiro’s face. He licked his lips, took a deep breath. “I love you.”

Shiro blinked rapidly as his eyes stung. Then he sat up, swinging himself over Thace to straddle his reawakened erection and sank down to the hilt with happy shiver and a kiss.

~*~*~*~*~

Epilogue:

Watching Akira try to figure out his own hands should not have provided the hour of amusement that it had. The half-breed was blinking at his fingers, cooing to himself as he tried to figure out what these moving things were and, apparently, how he was doing it. He had gone from lap to lap, everyone taking turns holding and singing and cuddling, until it became Allura’s turn.

She had never held an infant in her life. Thankfully Coran and Lance were more than willing to help.

“But what I don’t understand is why all of you aren’t like Shiro,” Allura said after a moment. “Switching sexes when you find an appropriate partner? Isn’t it easier that way?”

The humans all looked at her and frowned. “That’s… that’s not how it works, Allura.”

“Not everyone can be as efficient as Alteans!” Coran added. At the confused looks from the Paladins, Coran elaborated. “We’ve got both male and female organs, but we make a choice which sex to assume at adulthood.” Allura’s face darkened as he said that. “It’s still possible to change if your partner isn’t compatible, but it was considered a sign of immaturity. Or being with someone not pure Altean.”

“So, breeding with an alien species is common?” Pidge asked. “Because, I mean- Shiro is more closely related to an earth tree or virus than he is to a Galra and he still got pregnant. Everything humans know about evolution says that Akira should be impossible.”

“And it’s a trait we usually associate with the Galra.” Coran crossed his arms, before petting Akira’s head. “It’s one of the reasons, even before the war, people were uneasy with them. We don’t know how they do it. _They _don’t know how they do it. Even Alteans, with our ability to shape-shift, can’t breed with other species. Except the Galra.” He sighed. “They expanded rapidly because of this ability. They bred with others, and a single queen could potentially produce up to a thousand live offspring in her lifetime.”__

__“Woah,” Lance said, crossing his legs. “I know some Omegas who can have, like, six if they’re unlucky. It happens too many times and she winds up dead.”_ _

__“And on top of that, it was easier for the half-breeds to associate with other Galra, because the other species would reject the half-breeds.” Coran grimaced. “Even when our people were at peace. My grandfather was a kind tom, took good care of his wife, but my mother marrying an Altean was unusual.”_ _

__“Coran!” Allura gasped. “You-“ She stared at him. Part of her universe had been destroyed. She didn’t have much left at this point._ _

__Coran shrugged, smiled a bit, but his eyes were sad as he took Akira from her. “Never needed to bring it up before.” The infant’s eyes tried to focus on the new face, only to coo in confusion. “The war wasn’t always, Princess. The Galra helped us find Voltron, helped pilot the mighty robot. Once, even your father and Zarkon were close.”_ _

__Allura swayed to her feet. “I need to go.” Her voice remained steady. She was proud of that. Allura had few things she had been sure of since awakening in this horrifying future. Doubting Coran couldn’t be one of them._ _

__So she left, because she really needed to be alone._ _

__The end._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that was the end of Broken Cage. I do want to start a sequel to this, especially before the new season comes out and probably changes my characterization of Thace. Thank you, everyone, for the comments, kudos and bookmarks. It is very hard for me to finish a work of any kind because I usually enjoy the middle so much I can't wrap it up. That may be why this took so long. But please stick around. 
> 
> I also have a question for anyone reading this as to a potential future plot point. I want Keith to be a half-Galra, but I have two potential ways of doing it. One is that he is, indeed, Akira. (via timey-wimey broken wormhole) The other is that he is Thace's grandson. Please let me know your opinion!


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